Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom
by LGMagio
Summary: Sometimes I wondered why did they treat me like that when I was doing what they asked. Betrayed, I left, to another land and found people who I can call my Nakama, a family. Eight years later, it was then when people from my past decides its time for me to go home. That was the only problem. The thing is...I am home.
1. Chapter 1

Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom

Chapter 1: Leaving the Shinobi Nations

**(A/N: I just updated this chapter finding a mistake in the time line, thats all. The new chapter will come soon though, I promise you that! This is an idea that I thought of, what if Naruto was banished from Konohagakure and travels to a new land where he finds himself a family and people who he can call NAKAMA. This is my first story that I have always wanted to do so don't thing I wont stop updating till I feel it is done. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Fairy Tail.**

** Hope you guys like it. Review and Enjoy!)**

"Naruto" - Regular Speech

'_Naruto'_ \- Regular Thoughts/Sarcastic or Over-expressive Remark

"_Naruto" _\- _Flashbacks_

"**Naruto" - **Dragon/Demon/Monster/Summoning Spirit's Speech/Name of a Justu/Names of Spells

'**Naruto' - **Dragon/Demon/Monster/Summoning Spirit's Thoughts

_**(Naruto)**_ \- Song Insert/Chapter Begin or End

**\- Naruto -** \- Stating a place or time

_**Summary: _**Sometimes I wondered why did they treat me like that when I was doing what they asked. Betrayed, I left, to another land and found people who I can call my Nakama, a family. Eight years later, it was then when people from my past decides its time for me to go home. That was the only problem. The thing is...I am home.**_**_

"_Why do people have to be this lonely? What's the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?" _

_ ~Haruki Murakami_

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

_**(Chapter Begin)**_

**\- Land of Fire, Konohagakure -**

Today was a horrible day for one person, and his name was Uzumaki Naruto. The retrieval team that had been sent after Sasuke has been a success, but his reward for bringing their _'Precious Uchiha'_ back was something unexpected. His dreams were crushed as soon as the final decision had been made.

* * *

_\- Flashback -_

**\- One Day after The Retrieval Squad Returned, Location: Outside the Council Doors -**

_Naruto was walking down the street as he was called in for an important meeting with the council involving the battle with Sasuke. As Naruto entered, he saw many glares from the council. He wasn't surprised. They hated him since he was born just because he was the Ky_ū_bi's jinchūriki. Seriously! Just because he held the fox __didn't mean he had to be treated like he was. But when you're raised seeing these glares, you can get used to it, though it still hurts from the inside, but he didn't show it. __"You guys asked for me?" a bored Naruto yawned._

_"Yes, we did and don't speak to us like THAT, boy." Utatane Hokaru spat at the young Genin. _

_The Hokage glared at her. Koharu had never liked the young blond. She wouldn't even call him by his real name, only by " The jinchūriki boy" and such like that. The elder ignored the Hokage. She didn't really care about what she thought, even if she was the granddaughter of the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Her eyes turned to the woman for oncontinuing with the subject._

_ "We have summoned you to discuss about an incident with your mission. The reports we received caused us to summon the leaders of Konohagakure to this meeting, though we are please that your mission had went well."_

_"Well, what's the problem? You've got Sasuke-teme back like you wanted."_

_Koharu was about to scold him for his him being rude but before she could, Homura spoke first and looked at the blond with a straight face. "The problem, Naruto, was that in the reports we gathered from your sensei and your teammates, it states that you called forth chakra from the Kyūbi and caused a lot of damages to The Valley of the End as well as almost killing the one who you were supposed to retrieve for your mission."_

_"I had no other choice!" he shouted. "Sasuke used the Curse given to him by Orochimaru to fight me, not to mention that healmost killed me! I wasn't even trying to kill him!" continued Naruto and huffed and looked at Koharu straight in the eyes."Like I said before I brought him back like you guys asked anyways, why are you complaining." The **Chidori **almost struck his heart damn it! He only hit Sasuke in the chest! Naruto's attack was much less fatal from the way he hit him than that of the one Sasuke struck him._

_As he said this, a new member of the council shouted with anger at the blond boy, causing him to flinch in the process. _

_"Shut up DEMON!" Many of the members of the room glanced over to look at him as he continued to yell in anger at the boy, "You have caused many people of the village, including your teammates to be at risk multiple times with a high possibility of death because of you! Not to mention the whole village when you were being chased after two S Rank Missing-Nins who didn't just leave, they sent your master and Uchiha Sasuke to the hospital! Now you almost killed your target! THAT is why we are all here today! Have anything to reply to that!?" The council member known as Kudo Akio. During the battle against the Kyūbi, he lost one of his youngest brothers. The time still traumatized him to see his body in a bloody mess, so much you could hardly even recognize the child._

_Naruto just stood that looking at him shocked. After a while after looking at him he flexed his fingers and tightly and bawled his fists. 'Could he be right? Am I really that much of a problem?' _

_Tsunade snapped. "That is enough out of you! Talk more and you might as well receive punishment from speaking without permission! Now SIT DOWN!" The new member of the grit his teeth and glared at her for a moment, then looked back at the young nin. He glared at the young jinchūriki one last time before sitting back down in his seat._

_There was silence for a minute until the leader of the Root ANBU, Shimura Danzō, spoke up, "Uzumaki Naruto, we are here on trial to discuss your fate of whether or not you shall be banished from the village." _

_Naruto just held his breath and felt as if his heart had stopped as he stared at the council with a shocked expression with wide eyes, knowing he didn't see this coming. He looked at the Hokage who had an angry look as she glared at Danzō. _

_"Now wait just a minute!" _

_Yamanaka Inoichi, Head of the Yamanaka Clan stood from his seat and narrowed his eyes at the Shimura. He knew of what Naruto had to go through as a child. He saw him on the streets treated like he was the plague. Then as he grew up, he became a fine shinobi, loyal to the village and those he wanted to protect. But after hearing what was just said not even a minute ago, he knew this was wrong. _

_"Why do you want to banish him even after all he has done for the village? He brought back the Uchiha like he was ordered. Why do you wish to banish him for hurting the one he was supposed to bring back!? You heard him, he had no choice but to use the Kyūbi's Chakra! If he didn't, he would have been dead right now and the Uchiha wouldn't even be right now! He would most likely be with the traitor Orichimaru by now if he didn't use it! How can you do this to him after all he has done for the village!?" The Amikichi Clan, Nara Clan, Inuzuka Clan, Sarutobi Clan, and Aburame Clan nodded in agreement._

_The Hokage and Naruto gave a grateful smile to the father of the blond's friends. He was glad they were standing up for him and he was glad to know that they cared for him and did not want this to happen to him, but from the way it seemed on the looks of the high council, they didn't care._

_"As troublesome as it is, Naruto has done nothing but followed orders given to him on his mission. It was to bring back Uchiha Sasuke to the village. This is not the way he should be treated by following his mission." stated Nara Shikaku with the same lazy attitude as usual like his son. _

_Danzō was the first from the council to reply to the clan heads, "It is not just what he did to Uchiha Sasuke that caught our attention, the problem was that he using the Kyūbi's Chakra." The leaders of the clans raise a brow with curiousness. Say what now?_

_"What do you mean by that, Shimura?" Choji's father said as he glared at the man, not including the honorific he should in the end._

_"From the past reports of Naruto, it said that he used the Kyūbi's Chakra on multiple occasions." Koharu said suddenly before continuing with her statement. "For example, the time when Uzumaki was on his mission in Nami no Kuni (Wave Country)." This gave many questioned looks from the members of the room. "When fighting Momochi Zazuba's helper, known as Haku, possessor of the Kekkei Genkai **Hyōton**, the reports read stated from Hatake stating he had called forth the Kyūbi's Chakra to defeat him out of anger. From what we gathered, he was unable to control his rage and anger and could have destroyed the bridge you were fighting on." _

_"I used it defend myself against Haku to defeat him!" yelled the blond Uzumaki. They knew that he had no idea that he had actually "I was able to beat him using the chakra but then I stopped. I didn't even know how to use the fox's chakra then, I just thought that when I saw Sasuke get hit from one of Haku's Senbon and looked like he died in front of me. Then I just got angry and beat him!"_

_"But you proved our point saying that through your anger, you were able to call forth the Kyūbi's Chakra, yes?" Danzō said with his usual emotionless look, thus proving Hokaru's point. Naruto had to admit, it seemed true since his anger seemed to trigger being able to use the chakra._

_"That maybe true to one point." Tsuanade said suddenly trying to keep her calm as the first Lady Hokage continued, "But from I heard and read from during the Chūnin Exams, Naruto was able to control the power of the . Just because if he maybe angry, does not mean that he cannot control it the evilness within the chakra. It is stupid for thinking he is the cause of the evilness emanating from it." _

_"I agree with Lady Hokage. As you said, yes maybe he might be angry yet he was still able to control it. Even my father said that himself personally to me since was there during the Preliminaries as well." said the leader of Squad 10 as he stared at the council._

_"Yes but your father isn't here right now, isn't he?" Danzō said with a smirk causing the son of the Sandaime to grit his teeth in anger. He clenched his ands in rage as the the clan leaders and the Hokage started at him in disbelief and rage. Even Naruto hated him even more just for saying that in front of his face. The Sandaime was like a grandfather to him, he even allowed him to call him "Jiji"! Just for this, like Asuma, he wanted to go up there and beat him while the Hokage grabbed the table and cracked the wood leaving finger prints in the table as the part chipped off. "That maybe true, but who knows how long he may have been able to control it. As we saw from the mission, Naruto was not able to control the Kyūbi's Chakra which brought the Uchiha to a near-death state. Even though he may have had no choice, he used a move that almost killed the Uchiha in one blow." continued Danzō ignoring the looks he was given. _

_Naruto looked at the large argument that was currently going on, deciding on his fate to whether stay in the village, or be banished and unable to return until further notice. When the Hokage heard something about calling a demon and that he should be alive, she slammed her fist on the table and seemed as if she was going to get up and beat the living daylights out of the member who called out on Naruto before. The Clan Heads brought up many good facts about how if he could be trained, he might be able to control the Kyūbi but at the same time, the council members against him also brought out the facts that if he couldn't, in the middle of his training, the power might be too much and might go on a rampage. The argument continued for a what it seemed like hours, until the old rival of the Sandaime disrupted the feud with a load voice._

_"We seem to have many argument and have very good points in this matter." stated the one-eyed man as everyone looked at him expected him to say something else, "However." he said making blond woman raise a brow, "there can only be one answer. I say we must make this decision immediately. I say that this calls for a vote. Everyone of us shall vote "Yes" for young Uzumaki to be exiled or "Nay", one for that he should stay in the village." _

_Many people nodded in agreement but those who supported Naruto did not like the idea seeing that they knew this would not be a fair trial since Jiraiya of the Sennin was not there, clearly making it an unfair trial but had no voice in this matter due to the amount of people that agreed with the idea. It was then that Tsunade realized that this was all a setup._

_Mitokado Homura coughed in his hand to get everyone's attention which everyone did as their gazes fell upon him before he spoke. "Very well, the voting shall start with deciding the fate of Uzumaki Naruto shall begin." The new member of the council was the first to vote. The answer he said was expected from his attitude before at the young jinchūriki._

_"My vote is yes. This, demon**, **has caused enough problems for us." The new council member spat distastefully. Glares from all around the room were shot at the man. However, the next vote made Naruto happy from what she said in the end. It was the clan of the Inuzuka's that cause this, and man was he happy._

_"My vote is no." Tsume said, "He is a very loyal shinobi and is also a good friend of my son. He may be the container of the demon but he is a kind hearted young boy who would risk his life for the village. Those who vote yes should be ashamed of yourselves." Naruto gave her a small yet grateful smile at the clan leader before the votes continued._

_It was now a man named Tochigi Hakuba, the brother of Akio. "I vote yes, I would like to even kick him out myself as well if you allowed it." said the man with a smirk. Across the room, Tsunade was feeling the urge to even pound the man again before Shikaku spoke._

_"This is just another troublesome meeting, My vote is no, and like the kids nowadays say, this is stupid." This earned some chuckles from his friends around the meeting at the statement. Koharu snarled at him while Danzō just frowned._

_"My son has been friends with Naruto since they were children. If I said yes, I would be ashamed of myself and I would be ashamed to talk to my son ever again. My vote is no." Chouza spoke proudly._

_"As I said before, this is wrong. All of this is because he is the container of the Kyūbi. Just because he is does not mean that he should be treated like he is the demon itself. My vote is no. This is my final answer." Inoichi said. _

_"You know, if my father were here he would be disappointed in all of you. Like the others, my vote is no." Asuma said._

_"I, _Izumi Hiryuu,_ vote yes, he has been here long enough and its time for him to leave." _

_"My vote is yes." _Utatane Koharu spoke with her snobbish voice._ "You all know my reasons so I need not to explain them."_

_"I vote yes, he is too dangerous for the village to keep any longer." said the Shimura Clan leader. The frown on his face dispersed from this declaration and turned to his usual calm face._

_"I, _Aburame Shibi, vote_ no. Though some of the things that are dangerous for the village from the boy, there are also other ways of solving this problem and banishment is something that he does need to solve it."_

_"Though I do not despise the boy, many of the things pointed out cannot be ignored for the safety of the village. My vote is yes." _

_Naruto eyes filled with hurt at not just the people against him, but that even Homura was against him. Homura treated him nicely unlike Koharu did. Hearing him said this made him have a look of betrayal. He stared at the council member who just turned his head away to prevent himself from meeting his eyes._

_"You already know my answer and that is no. He has saved this village many times and does not deserve this. If my grandfather and uncle were here, he would be ashamed of what this village has become. You should be grateful that even after all he has been through he was STILL willing to help you after all you have done to him as a child, even now!" the Slug Princess declared. _

_Naruto was obliged towards her. She was one of the only people who believed in him and accepted him for who he was. Even though he would make fun of her from time to time by calling her "Baa-chan", he knew that cared deeply for him confirming his thought from the way she acted at that moment. He gave her a genuine smile which she kindly returned back as the votes continued but of course, it had to be the ANBU. This is one of the times he regretted for doing all of those pranking and getting chased by the ANBU._

_"He caused many problems for the village as a child, he still does now which does not surprise me. He may have done some good things now and then but this still doesn't change the problem that he contains the demon. For the safety of the village, it would be best for his banishment. My vote is yes."_

_Naruto counted seven and seven. Seven votes for him to be banished and seven votes for him to stay. It was all up to the last person, Hyūga Hiashi, Clan Head of the Hyūga Clan and Hinata's father. After several minutes of many looks at him, his answer decided the fate of the blond shinobi._

_After he looked at all the council members, his four words echoed in everyone's ears without making even one kind of emotion._

_"My vote is yes."_

_Naruto stood there wide-eyed and felt as if his heart broke. The council went silent. Tsunade was on the verge of tears with her hands covering her mouth while the clan heads looked at the young blond boy. Akio and his brother had an evil grin on their face as the vote came to a conclusion while the head of the Shimura clan and Koharu smirked knowing that their troubles were now over. _

_The look on Danzō's face did not fade. The smirk stood where it was made as everything was going according to plan._

_Tsume glared and snarled at Hiashi with partner supporting her by baring his fangs._

_Shikaku sighed. Looking at the young boy, he frowned. The young Naruto stood in the same spot taking everything in with nothing but a shocked expression._

_Chouza and Inoichi looked at Naruto and had their heads down. After what Naruto has done for all of them, this the way he is treated once again, nothing but the people seeing him as demon or despised him for even carrying such a creature. _

_Danzō then spoke up. "Very well. Now that the voting is over, Naruto will be stripped from his rank. He has two hours to gather his things and leave. He cannot contact any of the shinobi in the village or speak of our secrets. In the next two hours before he leaves, a member from my ANBU will meet him and a curse mark will be put on him to prevent our secrets from going out for safety precautions. You will meet by the gates in those two hours. You will also have a block put on your contract with the Toads to prevent contact with the village. To prevent running away, my ANBU will be stationed around the village making sure you do not escape. This meeting has now come to a close. Uzumaki Naruto, will be known as a banished ninja of Konohagakure."_

_Asuma frowned and looked out the window. 'It is sad to know that after all he has done for this village, this is the way they treat him.' He then looked back at the blond and now, new ex-shinobi. 'I just wish that the people of this village would think of him as their savior instead for carrying such a burden all of his life.'_

_After several minutes of silence with sad and happy looks, everyone in the room left except for the Hokage and Naruto. After a minute, Tsunade then got up and walked to the former ninja and hugged him to her chest. After a minute of this, Tsunade broke the silence with her teary eyes. "I'm sorry." she whispered. After another minute, Naruto cracked as he softly sobbed. His dream crushed from this one meeting. His crying did not stop, knowing that this was the last day he would see the village and knowing this would be the last time he would even be allowed inside the walls of his home which he protected with his life._

_-End Flashback-_

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

_**(Insert- Fairy Tail: Past Story)**_

Naruto sat on his couch with dry tearstains on his face with his blond hair covering his red, puffy eyes from crying. His injuries from a day ago are almost done healing thanks to the Kyūbi but still felt weak due to exhaustion. He arrived in his apartment after a couple minutes of walking from the meeting. Once he entered, he didn't bother turning the lights on, he just stood there wondering what to do now since he knew his dream was crushed. He saw his bag and hesitated to take it but eventually did. After he grabbed the bag, he took some clothes and stuffed it in. As soon had everything he needed before leaving. The plan was already set. He slowly grabbed some instant Ramen and put it in his bag for food while he was on his journey. After a minute, he washed the dry tears off his face and looked at his Frog Wallet.

Baa-chan had given him some money for him for a long time. She had also given him some scrolls with a lot of **Jutsu **he could practice and use. After grabbing his things, he walked to the door. He still had an hour and a half before meeting with the ANBU. Before he left, he took of the bandages surrounding his face. He then took of the bandages on his chest that soon revealed a scar close to his heart that his _'buddy'_, Sasuke, gave him from his **Chidori**. He put on his orange tracksuit and walked to his room. As he his bed the bed become visible, he moved the bed slowly and revealed a small hole that was dug to escape any riots when he was younger to escape from his pranks. He was about to go continue downward following the path of the whole when all of a sudden the scenery changed. The time he had opened his eyes, his surrounding were much different as he was in a flooded dark sewer with a large cage sealed up holding the one reason why he was being force to leave.

"**So you're going through with it?" **a dark and demonic voice erupted from inside the cage. His sad expression from the end of the meeting changed. Looking serious, he put on a straight face and folded his arms.

"I'm surprised that you would even call me out here just to talk to me. I can't help but feel special." Naruto said with sarcasm. The Kyūbi didn't growl or make any response. He knew that he was upset about this knowing that they blamed the young blond shinobi for being his container. He just kept a straight face and stared at Naruto with blood-red slited eyes. Before Naruto could talk with another sarcastic remark, the fox said one thing that Naruto would least expect him to say out of all the times he had met him.

"**I'm sorry, Naruto."**

Naruto just looked up at the powerful bijū with a flabbergasted look. The no longer Genin, looked at the fox as blue eyes met crimson. He didn't call him kit like he did before and instead, used his real name. His expression then changed from shock to a straight face, "Why do you have anything to be sorry about, you did nothing wrong. You were just staying here the whole time. You couldn't have done anything."

The demon just looked at the boy with his blood-red and slitted eyes, **"Look gaki, I know that out of all of the people, you would want me to be the last person you saw. Just know I'll be here for you. And if you want me to go on a rampage on the village, I'd gladly do it with out hesitation." **he even showed off his sharp fangs to top it off, proving that he would. Before Naruto could say anything else, he was shut out of his mindscape and was back in his room. At this he gave out a small chuckle knowing that was the Kyūbi he knew. Before eventually walking to it and going down. Before moving his bed to cover the hole, he took one last gland at his room with one thought going through his mind.

_'I wonder what will happen now...'_

With that, he covered the hole and the room where the young blond and now, ex-shinobi lived, was silent.

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

**\- 9 Hours Later, Location: Nami no Kuni (Wave Country) -**

The now ex-nin was walking down the road that led to Nami no Kuni for a couple of hours by walking and by boat to get to his destination. Within a distance, he saw the large bridge that he was asked to help protect as during his stay here for his first C-Rank mission which then turned into a higher rank. After a moment of thinking, he remembered what it was called and could help but chuckle. After all, he did know that his young friend, Inari was the one who named it after the blond.

He walked to the bridge and found a much too familiar house nearby and walked up to it. He knocked on the door and not even a second later, the door opened revealing a young boy with spiky black hair and dark-coloured eyes. He wore a green jumpsuit with a yellow shirt and a simple pair of sandals. He also wore a blue and white striped hat under the brim of which he would usually with with a bucket-hat. The funniest thing was what he said as soon as the door opened.

"I already told you once! WE DON'T WANT ANY!" the child yelled and just stood there with an irritated face. Those little girls kept coming back and it got worse every, single, time. First it was the cookies, then they threatened him with forks, now...whatever they had now. He didn't look look at who was at the door since his eyes we closed which made Naruto sweat drop.

"Hey Inari, its been a while hasn't it?" The bucket-hat kid opened his eyes as he then realized he was looking at the hero of Nami no Kuni, Uzumaki Naruto. It took a minute before he started getting teary eyed and looked at his good friend before smiling.

"NARUTO-NII!" the young boy said with joy and pulled his close friend into a hug. Naruto couldn't help but return the hug with a smile on his face. He hasn't seen the little guy since his encounter with Zabuza and Gato. After a moment, a womanly voice came from inside the house.

"Inari, who is at the door?" A feminine voice came from the kitchen of the house as she approached the door. Once visible, she looked like a woman in her late 20's who had long black hair with a short-sleeved pink shirt with the end of the sleeves and the collar being red in colour. Once she saw who was at the door, she couldn't help but give a loving smile. This was the young boy who saved her life from Gato's thugs not even a few months ago.

"Hey! How are you guys, 'ttebayo!" Naruto said with a wide and toothy grin. The three of them stood there with happy faces as they began a conversation.

"It's been very peaceful ever since thanks to you Naruto. But what are you all the way out here far from your village?" she questioned the blond hero. You do have to admit, it is a bit strange for even Naruto to be roaming around alone without a team or even his team.

"I'm on a mission." He felt bad for lying to Inari and Tsunami but he didn't want to talk about his banishment. It still made him upset to think that after he helped them, they still treated him the same way as before. "I was going to go and continue my mission but I then realized that I was gonna pass by here. So I decided that I wanted to pay a visit and say hi to you guys. Sorry I didn't tell you guys ahead of time though."

The mother of his friend just waved it off, "It's fine." she said. A couple of seconds passed until she realized that the young blond was still outside the whole time and gasped with embarrassment, "Oh excuse my manners, come in!" She moved out of the way so he could enter their house. He entered the house before giving a nod of thanks.

After a moment, Inari who refused to give up his large, happy smile. "So what have you been doing for the past months Naruto-nii? I bet you went on a lot of adventures!" he asked with an excited voice, waiting for his question to be answered.

For the next hour, Naruto was talking about his adventures after his mission. He talked about the Chūnin Exams and how he was trained by the Legendary Sennin, Jiraiya for his master and the other missions that occurred after they last met. They couldn't help but laugh every time when his master tried to peak on women, Naruto always got him in trouble for it by yelling out loud for the woman to hear. He didn't tell them about what happened within the past few days though. He didn't want to get them upset after this.

Inari was still laughing at the experiences with his master or his nickname known as "Ero-Sennin".

He calmed down a bit and had a big smile on his face, "It's good to see you guys again but I can't help to ask where the old man is. It's not that I want to end this reunion so quickly but I was hoping I would be able to talk to him when I got here. It's important that I should see him as soon as I can." he said seriously.

The young women was the first to reply, "He went out by the bridge about right after you came here. He is most likely still there, drinking probably." Tsunami said with a small frown in the end. She didn't really like him drinking but knew she really couldn't do anything to stop it since he would just go behind her back and do it.

Naruto nodded and stood up as he looked at them with a thankful look. "Thanks for telling me and it's really nice to see you guys again, but I have to go now." he finished with a small and sad smile.

"We understand Naruto-kun. Just be careful out there alright?" the daughter of the bridge builder said as she continued to look at him with a smile. He grabbed his bag as he listened to the raven-haired woman and turned to her with a grin, giving her a thumbs up.

"Don't you worry about me, I'll be fine!"

They once again said their final goodbyes as he left their house with his foxy grin still on his face, waving to them as he became harder to see in the distance. He looked away as he started walking to the large bridge he saw before seeing his two good friends, ones he considered family.

**~0~**

**\- A Couple Minutes Later, Location: The Great Naruto Bridge -**

He arrived at the bridge after a while of walking and saw a grey-haired in his late 50's. He looked like a bespectacled man with a large beard and dark eyes. He wore a sleeveless V-Neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals like Inari. He also carried a towel around his neck and wore a pointed hat on his head. He was drinking much to the boy in surprise. He looked like he was thinking about something until the young ex-shinobi called him out of his thoughts.

"OI! TAZUNA-SAN! LONG TIME NO SEE, DATTEBAYO!"

At this, the man looked to where the sound was coming from. He knew that loud and brash voice from anywhere and saw the one who the bridge he made was named after. "Naruto? What are you doing here? I am not unhappy to see you but I'm just surprised to see you out here this far from the village."

"Just out here on a mission." Naruto lied again. He really started to hate this now. The gray-haired man just looked at him with a stern look and a frown, "You don't have to lie to me Naruto, what's wrong." he said with concern for the young hero.

This caught Naruto by surprise. He didn't expect him to figure him out so easily. Guess he wasn't good at making masks than he thought. At this Naruto had no choice but to tell him the truth, he couldn't hide it. He told him what happened starting from the battle with Sasuke to the time now. To make it simple, Tazuna was disgusted. After everything that he has done for them, saving the village, defeating Suna's jinchūriki, and bringing back Uchiha Sasuke after he ran away from the village and he was given banishment. He despised it, knowing that their land's hero was treated like this. He even told him about the Kyūbi which surprised the old man, but still didn't change his feelings towards the boy. Just because he had a demon inside of him doesn't mean he should be treated like one. In the end there was a couple of minutes of silence as they sat down on a nearby bench but was then broken by Naruto's words.

"I was wondering if I would be able buy a boat here." His gaze was still looking toward the washing ocean.

Tazuna just looked at him with a sad face but he reluctantly nodded and led him to the docks. They bought a small boat for one person and was a medium sized oak boat with a serpent head on the front and back of the boat. It had a large wooden plank that held the sail. It also had two wooden stands to turn the direction of the boat with rope on the sides of the boat as well. Naruto thanked and paid the merchant. The man then took his leave right after. As he did, the ex-shinobi looked at the old man.

"I don't want you anyone about this." Naruto said suddenly, "Don't even tell this to tell Inari, Tsunami or the villagers about my banishment. Inari and his mom would be upset at the villagers of Konohagakure and the villagers here would probably end the growing bond going on with them. I don't want that to happen because of me."

"Well who wouldn't? You are our hero after all." Naruto gave him one of his toothy grins in response. He liked the old man. Tazuna's then changed from his small smile and made a straight face as he raised his brow. "Anyways, where are you planning on going? Will you be heading to another village?"

The boy just shook his head and gave the man a smile.

_**(Insert- Naruto Shippuden: Opening 6)**_

"No, I am just going to and see where the waves take me. Maybe I'll find something out there." He looked far into the ocean before giving the good old man a smile. The jinchūriki then turned to the boat and pushed it into the water with the waves carrying the long boat. As he got on, he looked back to see the bridge builder looking at him with his sad smile still on his face. He waved goodbye and turned to face the ocean once more.

'_I wonder what will be kept in store for me now that this happened. Maybe I might find something to do for the rest of my life, wherever I'm going.' _he thought as he looked up to the sky and gave a smile with his blond hair blowing in the ocean wind.

_'Looks like it will be another of one my adventures.' _

He then let the sail loose and the boat rode across the waves as the Land of Fire disappeared from his view. And he was no longer a ninja of Konohagakure. He was Uzumaki Naruto.

_**(Chapter End)**_

* * *

**(A/N: Well that's a wrap! Woo! The First chapter is done as well as the first chapter for my Fanfiction career. Don't think I am gonna stop updating! I won't stop till I feel like the story comes to a close. Man this is awesome! Yeah it is sad right now but it will get better, I promise you that. And I guess for those who question in your head who listened to the last song, "Why would he put such an energetic song when he is leaving? Why did he think that? Why?". This is because I want to put in a sense of adventure on his upcoming journey. After all, t****his is just the beginning. Hopefully everything will go as well as I hope it will and the story will turn out great!. The next chapter might come within a few days. I'll have school but on Friday, I'll be on vacation! Anyways, hope you enjoyed it! If you have some suggestions, you know what to do! REVIEW! **

**~ LGM)**


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom

Chapter 2: The Land of Fiore and the Important Mission

**(A/N: The second chapter of the story...is out! And MAN did it take a while! As you can you, I changed the picture for the story of an older looking Naruto and I also added some pictures to my profile so you can have the full image of what he looks like. This picture was made by a very talented person that I admire for his pictures. I will post his website on my profile if you want to see who he is so you can take a look at his gallery. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Fairy Tail...It's so cool though that it makes me wish I did! **

** Hope you guys like it. REVIEW!)**

"Naruto" - Regular Speech

'_Naruto'_ \- Regular Thoughts/Sarcastic or Over-expressive Remark

"Naruto" - _Flashbacks_

"**Naruto" - **Dragon/Demon/Monster Summoning Spirit's Speech/Name of a Justu/Names of Spells

'**Naruto' - **Dragon/Demon/Monster/Summoning Spirit's Thoughts

_**(Naruto)**_ \- Song Insert/Chapter Begin or End

**\- Naruto -** \- Stating a place or time

_**Summary: _**Sometimes I wondered why did they treat me like that when I was doing what they asked. Betrayed, I left, to another land and found people who I can call my Nakama, a family. Eight years later, it was then when people from my past decides its time for me to go home. That was the only problem. The thing is...I am home.**_**_

_"Weaklings will stay weak forever. But weakness is not evil, since human beings are already weak creatures to begin with. Alone, you feel nothing but insecurity; that's why we form guilds, that's why we form friends. We walk together in order to live a strong life. The clumsy ones will walk into more walls than the others, and may also take them longer to get there. If you believe in tomorrow and put yourself out there, you can naturally obtain you strength. That's how you will be able smile and live strong."  
_

_ ~Makarov Dreyar_

* * *

**_(Previous Chapter)_**

"I don't want you anyone about this." he said suddenly, "Don't even tell this to tell Inari, Tsunami or the villagers about my banishment. Inari and his mom would be upset at the villagers of Konohagakure and the villagers here would probably end the growing bond going on with them. I don't want that to happen because of me." he continued.

"Well who wouldn't? You are our here after all." he said with chuckle while Naruto gave him one of his toothy grins in response. The man then changed from a smile and made a straight face as he raised his brow. "Anyways, where are you planning on going? Will you be heading to another village?"

The boy just shook his head and gave the man a smile.

_**(Insert- Naruto Shippuden: Opening 6)**_

"No, I am just going to and see where the waves take me. Maybe I'll find something out there." he said as he looked far into the ocean before giving the good old man a smile. The jinchūriki then turned to the boat and pushed it into the water with the waves carrying the long boat. As he got on, he looked back to see the bridge builder looking at him with his sad smile still on his face. He waved goodbye and turned to face the ocean once more.

'_I wonder what will be kept in store for me now that this happened. Maybe I might find something to do for the rest of my life, wherever I'm going.' _he thought as he looked up to the sky and gave a smile with his blond hair blowing in the ocean wind.

_'Looks like it will be another of one my adventures.'_

He then let the sail loose and the boat rode across the waves as the Land of Fire disappeared from his view.

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

**_(Chapter Begin)_**

**\- 8 Year Time Skip, Location: Unknown -**

In a small room in an unknown land, Nine powerful men stood in the middle of a large magical circle. Everything was going fine until they received a report that caused one of the men to snap.

"Those bakas in Fairy Tail have gone and done it again." said one of the mysterious men as his words echoed across the room. "They destroyed half a port this time!"

"To be honest, I kind of like those fools" said a young man. Unlike everyone else, this person was more visible than the others since light shone on him. He had blue hair and was dressed in an elegant, yet simple robe, consisting of a long white tunic with black stripes across the edges and on the upper part of the arms, a decorated collar, large straps connected to decorated buckles closing the inducement on the front over his shirt, and matching pants and shoes. In the land around here, he was known as a "Wizard Saint". One of the most powerful men across the land. A man next to him nodded in agreement before he talked to the people around him with his arms crossed around his chest.

"Yes, fools they are. But it is also a fact that they are a very capable lot." he replied with

This man short, old man with thick light-brown eyebrows and a small toothbrush mustache that reaches halfway to his mouth. He also wore a brown long sleeve shirt with black vertical stripes and a black three-spiked hat. As soon as he said this, another member agreed with him. "I have to admit it but he is right." he said with a straight voice. After a few seconds, the one who was complaining received a message a yelled out in anger.

"DAMN IT! NOT THAT BOY AGAIN!"

"What happened this time." sighed the blue-haired mage, who was known as man known as Siegrain, questioned without changing the look on his relaxed face.

"Uzumaki happened. He destroyed a large portion of the forest nearby the city and caused a nearby village to panic at the incident." he said with an angry voice. The old short man from before just answered with a questionable tone.

"Well there is nothing we can do, he would just ignore us and just make it worse by doing it again like he did last time. At this all the members of the council sighed while the young blue-haired Wizard Saint just had a smirk on his face and wondered about the young blond.

_'Uzumaki Naruto, you never cease to amaze me, do you?' _

**~0~**

**\- With Fairy Tail's Maelstrom, Location: Fairy Tail Guild -**

_**(Insert: Fairy Tail- Happy's Theme)**_

A man sneezed inside the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. He wiped his nose with a finger and smiled.

"So someone's talking about me, eh? Better be a good thing."

Naruto has gotten much older in the past years. He grew quite handsome and not to mention, powerful. He was now at the age of 20, soon turning 21 at a tall height of 6 feet. He got quite muscular, more lean if anything and grew out of his old orange clothing and wore something more interesting...well, at least to him it was.

His spiky blond hair had grown longer and more shaggier and had a bandanna with a symbol in the shape of a swirl like the Uzumaki symbol, was tied around his head in a knot while the ends of the long bandanna were hanging from the back of his head. He got a light tan skin growing up and still had the one and most prominent whisker marks. He also wore a white T-shirt with a very low V-neck that was tucked into his pants. An unseen orange stamp was placed on to the left of his chest though was covered by his black trench coat that went little down past his kneecaps with an Uzumaki Clan symbol sewn onto the back. His slightly saggy pants was in the color of navy blue with one orange thread of string, tied around his waist like a belt while an orange bag that that he owned, sat on the table.

Hey, just because he doesn't wear his old orange clothing doesn't mean that he still likes that color.

Ever since Naruto left on his journey, he learned many new techniques from the scrolls he had been given when he left Konohagakure. He found out that his Chakra affinity was actually **Wind** **Release **and learned quite a couple other things as well. He even made some of his own within the eight years.

As he grew, the fox and him became good friends and good partners. Time passed on and Naruto was able to learn his name but unfortunately, could not yet control the chakra fully yet. He could now control the 7 Tailed State well but can hardly control 8 Tails since he didn't have the proper training. It's hard to control that chakra if you have to feel the fox's hatred for humans, even if he was his friend. Probably the only one if he said so. There were only a couple people he liked, about two hand full of people at best.

As much as he wanted to use the full potential of the Kyūbi's chakra due to this problem. And because of this if he tried to go further than what he could already do...then you know what happens.

Our blond hero was currently talking to his fox friend as he sat down waiting for his favorite food to come.

Ramen.

One thing that people wouldn't expect from his village was that he actually got smarter. He wasn't as smart as a Nara, but more of a battle smart guy. The fox taught him a thing or two. He grew a bit mature now but will forever still be the Number One Most Unpredictable, Knucklehead Ninja.

Well, he now considers himself as an ex-ninja now but you get what he's trying to say..

_'Looks like the guild is happy as usual.' _A moment and suddenly, he slammed his head onto the table._ 'Peaceful and quiet...this sucks.'_

His large fox friend, Kurama, just chuckled inside his mind and shook his head and replied with a smile showing off his large fangs, **_'Bored as usual eh, Naruto?'_**

Naruto grimly nodded and grumbled. _'__It's been a day past due since the last fight. When will things get exciting?'_

The people around the room were talking amongst themselves as they always do. Always happy, always loud, thats what the blonde liked about these guys though but could be boring every once in a while. Everything was going well until he sensed a familiar energy signature running to the guild. Naruto just smirked and looked at the doors counting down in his mind, waiting for it to burst open.

_'3...2...1...'_

_**(End Music: Fairy Tail- Happy's Theme)**_

Right on cue, the door opened with a large thud as they slammed against the walls. The cause of the slam caused everyone to look a young, yet hyperactive teen who Naruto was expecting. He was muscular young man of average height of 5' 8" with a slightly tan skin tone, black eyes, and spiky hair. Around his neck was a scale-patterned scarf like a reptile. He had the same tattoo like Naruto but instead of his left side of the chest, it was on the right side of his shoulder in the color of red. His outfit consists of a sleeveless, gold trimmed, black waistcoat that was left open and untucked. This caused his bare chest to be exposed. He wore white knee-length trousers, a thick black wristband on his left wrist and black open-toed sandals.

Next to the pink-haired boy was a blue cat with a white underbelly that was flying in mid air. The cat had black eyes and a rectangular shaped head, thin eye brows and light blue cheek marks on his face near his two little whisker marks and a long white tail that ended with a white color at the tip. The flying cat had a rectangular nose that leads to semi-round upper lips on the sides. Surprisingly, not only his head was rectangular, his body was as well. Tied around his neck was a small green backpack who he seemed to like carrying around with him a lot because he wasn't complaining. He just kept his same happy smile, hence his name.

Though the next person he saw he did not know.

Next to the two _known_ personages, this person was a young female with brown eyes. She had shoulder length golden blonde hair tied by ribbons with a variety of colors in a small ponytail to the right side of her head with the rest of the hair loose. She had large breasts and a curvaceous body with a zipped blue and white sleeveless shirt with a miniskirt that had a belt that, along with keeping her skirt up, held silver and golden keys and a whip with a heart-shaped end. She also had black, leather high heeled boots that gave her little more height to the height of 5' 6", but without it, she seemed to be at least a height of 5' 4".

"WE'RE BACK!" Natsu stomped and cried throughout the guild hall.

As he did, all the people around the room greeted the teen. It was then stopped abruptly when a random member of the crowed with large buckteeth and large brown eyebrows and brown hair that cause the pink-haired teen to snap.

"You went really all out this time!" the man yelled, "I heard Hargeon was-"

That was all he said before getting kicked in the face and smashed against the floor, breaking a table he was sitting by. Apparently the other blonde who had been with the pink-haired mage was not familiar with this common occurrence since just stood there with a shocked look as if she was asking "Why?!"

"YOU LIED TO ME ABOUT THE SALAMANDER!" Natsu said, which the victim surprisingly recovered fast from the kick and yelled back in defense.

"DON'T BLAME ME! I ONLY TOLD YOU SOME RUMORS I HAPPENED TO HEAR!"

"NANI?!"

"WANNA GO?!"

Not a second later the room turn into a war zone while the female blonde stood looking dumbfounded as the room erupted from their peaceful loud talking, into a large clash between friends. Naruto just laughed before remembering the time when he was 13 looking for a guild called Fairy Tail. _  
_

_'This reminds me of the time when I joined the guild.'_

* * *

_\- Flashback -_

**\- 8 years ago, Location: Entrance of Fairy Tail -**

_The young Uzumaki was walking up to the guild known as Fairy Tail and gave out and incredulous whistle. "Woaah...So this is the famous Fairy Tail guild, huh? " he said aloud with amazement. Naruto just gripped his bag tightly with excitement and gave out a large smile as he ran towards the doors laughing. He stopped in front of the doors before taking a deep breath and entered with and yelled to the top of his lungs causing everyone to look at him._

_"Yo! Uzumaki Naruto is the house, dattebayo!" He gave a wide, toothy grin as he was still full with excitement, until he noticed what was going and sweat dropped. What appeared to have happened was that a large fight seemed to be going on before Naruto opened doors since all eyes just stared at him with awkward silence. The reason why he guessed this was because chairs seemed to have been thrown, tables were split into two, and the people who were thought to be knocked unconscious woke up as they looked at the blond. Not to mention people were holding each other by the neck or clothes as they held their fists in the air preparing for a strike._

_The traveling ex-shinobi just gave them with a dumbfounded look. After a second of this, an old and extremely short man came up to him which made Naruto have no choice but to look down at him. He had black eyes and was growing bald since only the outer rims of his head were containing white hair with a thick white mustache on his upper lip. "Is this Fairy Tail?" the blond boy asked which the elderly man just nodded with a smile._

_"Yes it is young man. My name is Makarov Dreyar, Guild Master of Fairy Tail." the elderly man said as he gave him a peace sign. Naruto stood wide-eyed before he started laughing loudly gasping for air.. _

_"You are so tiny!" he said with a breath of air and continued to laugh trying to calm himself down, but inevitably failed. "Your at least half may size!" _

_The Fairy Tail guild master got a tick mark and smirked before he grew in size and towered the boy by a good 10 feet above him. **"Would you care to repeat that?" **the old man said with a dark voice. _

_Naruto just looked up at the man in shock from that man growing from such a small body, to a body that had gained muscles and gazed over him with a huge difference in size. He replied with a stuttering voice combined a tinge of fear. Who wouldn't if he was that big and had made his voice almost sound demonic! It was almost as deep as the Kyūbi's! _

_"N-No thanks." _

_The elderly man just smirked and shrunk down to his original size. With a sigh, he looked up at the young teen with a smile. __"What can I help you with young lad?" he said with a smile, just as if nothing happened. That freaked him out at the moment but decided to drop it. _

_But Naruto did sweat drop. He calmed down a bit and took a deep, relaxing breath before he answered back with a formal tone, bowing down slightly. "__My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I wish to join the Fairy Tail guild." _

_Makarov gave him a hard, stern look and narrowed his eyes. Naruto gulped. What was he going to do? He practically insulted him just a minute ago and most likely ended his chances of joining because of that, stupid childish behavior. He continued to look at him before he smiled. Then he made on answer that shocked the blond traveler making him almost lose his balance from the floor._

_"Ok." _

_The blue-eyed Uzumaki raised his head and looked at the man and blinked a few times. _

_"Thats it?" asked the teenager, "No test? No trial? No check up?". The nearly bald old man just shook his head._

_"Nope! Welcome to Fairy Tail!"_

_ Naruto couldn't help but stand dumbstruck. 'That was easier than I thought.' After another couple minutes of pure silence, Naruto looked up to see the fight that had started all over again after their guild master had just accepted him that easily. Shaking his head from snapping out of his shock, he just gave gave out an grin and jumped in. After he gave out a happy thought, more chaos erupted within the fight._

_'I think I'm gonna like it here...' _

_Everything went crazy and he finally became an official member of Fairy Tail._

_\- End Flashback -_

* * *

During the years, Naruto learned about the land he stumbled onto while traveling. The people known as mages, had an amazing ability called magic that could be used for basically almost everything starting with the ability to cast fire spells, make destructive blasts, much to his liking, the ability to give themselves a power boost and so on. So pretty much, you name it? They've got it, somehow or somewhere. The land was much more advanced in technology since the Ninja Nations were all focused about fighting and defending themselves in war. The good thing was that the land known as Fiore, never experienced war like his home country did as far as he knew. Naruto gave out a long happy sigh before looking back to the fight. This was nice.

It seemed like Happy, the blue cat, tried to stop his partner before getting hit by a member of Fairy Tail and literally, bounced away, ricocheting from wall to wall before disappearing from his view hearing the cat scream as he vanished.

The blond-haired female just looked at the Fairy Tail guild hall with a large smile. But before anything else could happen, she gave out a large "Eep!" as she saw a nearly naked teen who was calling out for her new friend. The teen ignored her as he was looking around for the pink-haired mage.

"Oh? Natsu's back?!"

This guy had raven hair and his very common confident look. He looked like he was about the age of 17, judging by the way he looked. He had dark blue eyes and his body was toned and muscular with neckless that had an item hooked onto it shaped like a sword was stuck in stone. He usually wore a white jacket, but that was the problem about this guy. The one thing about him was that he had a habit well, VERY serious habit of...taking his clothes off, even without him knowing. Naruto just sighed in relief seeing that he was at least wearing his boxers. He went to join the fight, a young brown haired female pointed out to the black haired boy about his clothes simply saying with a sigh.

"Gray, your clothes."

The teen known as Gray, just cried out in shock as he saw the remaining clothes on his bare skin. "Not again!"

This young woman was known as Cana Alberona. She was a tall, slim, young woman with, like the new blond, a large bust. She had long, mid-back length brown hair with varying shades of color, having been seen as bright brown, black, and, ultimately, plain brown with two shoulder-length strands of hair frame her face, with the left one starting from a prominent, high fringe. Her outfit consists of a light blue bikini top which features a camouflage pattern, a pair of capri pants, with two bands hanging from each leg and a light belt covered in heart motifs loosely tied around the waist. She also had a pair of metal bracelets adorning her biceps, bearing an incision composed of many "_A_"s, and three simple, round metal bracelets on her right wrist. Though she may be pretty, she was known very well around Fairy Tail, since she heaviest drinker in the room. She just sighed and muttered something before going back to drinking a couple of gallons of booze from a nearby wooden tank with yet again, much to the blonde's shock.

The blonde teen then noticed the ex-shinobi, acting like it was a movie and enjoying the fight which gave her a confused look before asking, "Um, excuse me?" Naruto stopped and looked at her with a raised bow before she continued with her question with a worried look.

"Why aren't you joining the fight, not that I'm interested but everyone here besides you are fighting while you're just waving it aside like it's fun! Aren't you afraid that they might get hurt?"

The man just looked at her for a second before giving a chuckle. "Trust me, this won't be the only time in Fairy Tail you see them like this."

She gave him a confused look before she looked back at the fight. If they did this multiple times then...

After a couple of minutes of hearing fan girlish squeals from the female blond after seeing the beauty of Fairy Tail Mirajane, who preferred to be called as Mira, an angry roar erupted from the center of the fight right before their magic could be used. At the center stood gigantic black creature who towered before them as Naruto gave out a sad sigh as knowing the fight was sadly about to end.

**"THAT IS ENOUGH, YOU FOOLS!"**

Everyone stopped abruptly and stood still not moving a muscle when they saw a dark creature in the middle of the hall and. The silence was then broken when the woman known as Mirajane looked up at the creature with a smile.

Mirajane was is a slim young woman of below average height of 5' 6". She has long, white hair which curls slightly at the ends, with two bangs framing her face and reaching down to her chest; her hairstyle's most distinctive trait is a short, upward ponytail obtained by gathering and tying the hair covering her forehead. She had large blue eyes and a curvy, voluptuous body with a large bust as well, making every man around her swoon, but Naruto wasn't like that. Not at all. But he still considered her a friend. While she wore a sleeveless, ankle-length maroon dress with a pleated skirt, her chest was adorned by a large, pink bow, and similarly colored trimmings frame the rather ample neckline, acting as straps and circled around her waist.

_'You know I can't believe I just noticed until now but now looking around, there are a lot of people her with large busts.'_

**"I'm not complaining."**

_'Oh shut up.'_

"Oh, you're still here, Master?" said the white-haired beauty. Makarov only nodded in response while Naruto just looked at him with a frown. Naruto was happy that Makarov was here, but not happy seeing him stopping the fight going on between guild members. Natsu was the only one still standing in the center of the guild as he gave a victorious laugh.

"What a bunch of wimps! Looks like I win this-"

Poor Natsu never finished his sentence since by that moment, he was then crushed by a large foot with his body twitching on the wooden floor.

Naruto just laughed hysterically as he held his stomach trying to calm himself down. He should have recorded that! Showing it to the guild would have been a good moment but it was too late.

But he wasn't gonna forget that.

He saw the creature turn to the blond key holder while the guild master, just towered above everyone and looked at her. **"Are you new here?" s**ince apparently,demon was actually polite.

She nodded fiercely with a frightened look. "Y-Yes!"

The guild master then all of a sudden, shrunk in size until he was back to his original form which Lucy, since Naruto heard her name while she was talking to Mira, just looked at the tiny man in shock as he said, "Nice to meetcha!"

"Tiny!" she exclaimed. This guy was small! "Wait, he is your Master?!"

Mira nodded happily with her usual light'n happy smile. "Yep!"

"NARUTO!"

The said man who was still laughing, came to a stop and looked over to the small man with a grin. The master only continued to yell at him with rage. "Why didn't you stop the fight going on you BAKA?! Look at all the repairs that would need to be done!"

Lucy just looked at the man she talked to before in shock while the blond man just gave out a bored sigh before smirking at the master and slowly started streching. He stood up, "Come on jiji, you know I need something to amuse myself once in a while."

Lucy sweat dropped while the master the just got a tick mark on his forehead. Judging by the way he acted, the master had high respect for him since he didn't try to crush him like he did with Natsu. Makarov took in a deep breath before he tried to do a large backflip to stand on the balcony, that failed horribly by the way, and hit his head on the wooden rail. He rubbed his head in pain before standing on the the balcony. He cleared his throat while everyone in the guild nervously, excluding the blond Uzumaki, looked at their guild master, waiting for his upcoming words.

"You guys have gone and done it again!" the old man yelled, "Look at how much paperwork the council the council sent me this time! And it's all complaints! All you guys ever do is get the council mad at me! Especially you Naruto!" he said while everyone looked at the blond sitting cooly on a chair with his arms and legs crossed over each other. "You left a huge crater in the forest nearby here while _'training'_!"

Naruto just calmly put his arms over his neck, "Hey! At least something came out of it." he said with a smirk while everyone just snickered at the comment while Makarov was getting another tick mark on his forehead.

He looked at the blond man with an angry face before the master smirked and said, "However...". At that moment, all the papers he held in his hand burst into flames. "I say to heck with the Magic Council!" and threw the papers on fire into the air which Natsu, jumped into the air, consuming the flames.

_**(Insert: Fairy Tail - Main Theme *Slow Version*)**_

"Listen up!"

The mages of Fairy Tail looked up at their master, listening attentively. "Power that surpasses reason is still born from reason. Magic is not a miraculous power. It is only realized when the flow of energy inside us and the flow of energy in the natural world come into perfect sync! Magic comes from mental strength and focus-no, it comes from your entire soul! Worry about the eyes watching from high above and you will make no progress in the ways of magic! Don't let the fools on the council scare you! Follow the path you believe in! That is what Fairy Tail Wizards do!"

Naruto just smiled while both guild master and Maelstrom rose their right hands, making the sign of a backwards "L" with the everyone followed their lead. At this, everyone yelled with a happy roar, showing their proof of being Fairy Tail Wizards. Although one thing was missing which the blond forgot since the beginning of the fight. Little did he know, he forgot about the ramen he was waiting for and was no where to be seen.

_**(End Music: Fairy Tail - Main Theme *Slow Version*)**_

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

**\- 2 Days Later, Location: Fairy Tail Guild -**

A few days have past since the recent brawl. Lucy had become an official member of the Fairy Tail Guild and for the past few days, already completed a couple of missions with the hyperactive pink haired teen. Naruto was sitting against the wall watching the common occurrence going on between guild mates. Mira was handing out drinks to everyone, Cana was drinking, Natsu and Gray were fighting with lightning coming from their foreheads, Lucy was looking for a job to do to pay her rent, and Happy was enjoying the fish he was currently eating. This time, Naruto actually got his ramen and was devouring the _'gift by the gods'_. Naruto just watched them in amusement as if it was a TV Show for him, eating the ramen while looking at the _'drama' _between Lucy and Loke. He just laughed as he saw Lucy standing there in awkwardness while Loki was somehow having sparkles come and shine around him. He then laughed at the _'C__ruel twist of fate' _seeing that the one he was flirting with, turned out that she Celestial Wizard which everyone besides Lucy know that he has a bad history with them. Although many did wonder about what exactly happened, including Naruto. He then opened his eyes when he heard Natsu and Gray yelling out a spell as they charged towards him.

**Karyū no Tekken! (Fire Dragon's Iron Fist) / _Aisu Meiku_: _Cōrudo Ekusukaribā! (Ice Make: Cold Excalibur_)**

Naruto just smiled and folded his arms. Before he could do anything else, he vanished. It was almost as if he wasn't there. It was only one second away when that happened and Natsu and Gray smashed right into each other's heads. They both fell and at the same time where their eyes had swirls. Naruto was now standing sideways against the wall smile. This was a common occurrence for everyone. They just breathed a heave

"You know, if I really wanted to I could have just knocked you out at that moment when you were charging me."_  
_

"How are you doing that?!" Naruto heard from the Celestial Wizard with as she looked at him shocked. She was looking at the man, not to mention standing sideways, who was doing it as if he had done it many times before.

He grinned, "I have a much different type of ability than the rest of you."

Lucy just stood there wide-eyed with an open jaw from the simple excuse but oh, she wasn't convinced. She was about to continue before he heard the door of the guild hall open with a large slam. Coming from the door Loke was panting with fear. All eyes turned to him as yelled out with worry in his voice.

"This is bad!" he said. The room started quieting down until there was silence. A few seconds passed before he continued with a low worried voice, but was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Its Erza...She's back!"

The whole room was filled with shock and fear as they heard his sentence. Naruto just looked at the orange haired teen with hope in his eyes.

_'Erza? __It has been a while since I've see her, I wonder how she's been?'_

* * *

_\- Flashback -_

**_\- 8 years ago, Location: Fairy Tail -_**

_A 12 year old Naruto, soon turning 13, sat down by the bar eating his favorite food in the world, the food of the gods, the one and only delicious, ramen. Naruto was enjoying his daily lunch as he enjoyed the peace and quiet. It was rather boring from time to time but would always break out into a brawl sooner or later. Even he joined in the fight every so often!_

_While eating, he heard a very young and frustrated Gray talking to a brown haired girl, Cana Alberona who was talking about what about Gray that was going to make him super lucky but unfortunately, Cana didn't know since her **Card Magic** wasn't specific enough. The young Uzumaki just sighed in annoyance since Gray was a cocky and prideful kid._

_"Do it again!" demanded the young Ice Mage. Cana just looked at him with an annoyed look before the boy continued, "Why am I supposed to be super lucky today?"_

_"The result will be the same every time." she exasperated, "And wait, why wouldn't you be happy with that?" she then questioned the nearly naked boy. In response, Gray just put his arms around the back of his neck gave out a frustrated sigh._

_"This morning I got stuck in a ditch, and lost my wallet..." he said as he looked away. Naruto just looked at the kid with a mischievous smirk before the boy gave out an annoyed sigh and continued. "Nothing good has happened." he said which made Naruto make his move._

_"I thought you were a stripper Gray! What happened?" he yelled out. Gray's face turned tomato red while everyone in the room start to roar with laughter. It was all stopped when they heard the doors open up slowly with a creak, making everyone look in the same direction with an interested look. Coming from the door was a young red head, who they weren't expecting, walking down the center of the guild with tattered clothes and an eye patch over her right eye. She had short scarlet hair and had an old plain bag with server tears. Everyone murmured among themselves as they questioned the situation._

_"Someone's kid come wandering in?"_

_"She doesn't look like some regular street kid to me." _

_Everyone looked at her while everyone continued to murmur among themselves while the young blond looked at her and said the usual when a new member was wanting to join the guild._

_"Yo! Welcome to Fairy Tail, home of the awesome wizards of Earthland!"_

_She just looked at the blond who had a grin on his face before turning around and walked away towards the guild master's office. Naruto just gave out a pout and looked in the direction she was heading to._

_'I wonder what is her reason for wanting to join the guild like that?'_

**_~0~_**

_A few days have past since the scarlet haired girl joined the guild. She now wore an armored suit that covered her torso and a white skirt brown boots and black leggings. She still wore the same eyepatch over her right eye since the day she arrived here in the guild. She was now sitting on a table in the corner that she sat at for the past couple of days while everyone else were happily cheering as usual. _

_"I feel bad for her cause she is always alone." the young brunette said suddenly making the young Ice Mage reply with his usual rude tone._

_"Then instead of sitting down, go talk to her." he said with a calm look. Cana just shook her head with a sigh. _

_"I already tried, she just completely ignored me."_

_Next to the two young mages, Naruto frowned as he looked at redheaded girl. 'She looks so sad. I can see the pained look in her eyes. I wondered what happened?'. A few seconds later, he grew a confident smile. Surprising Gray and Cana, their blond friend stood up from their table and walked over to the scarlet haired girl and grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it to the table and sat down. Naruto looked at her with a large smile and raised his hand._

_"Yo!"_

_Erza just raised her eyes at him before looking back at her food, ignoring the blond, but he didn't give up. "The name is Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet ya, dattebayo!" This time, she actually looked at him and swallowed her food._

_"What do you want?" she asked rudely._

_He gave out a small frown, 'I wonder what I could do to make her smile...' A few seconds came to pass until an idea popped into his head. 'Oh I know!'_

_"I just wanna see if we can hang out some time, that's all. And maybe we can be friends...?" He trailed the word "friends" seeing Erza's reaction. She just stopped chewing on her food from the word as he said the final word. She looked at the blond with an straight face soon turning a bit upset. Before anything else could be said, she put down her bread on her plate as she stood up from her chair._

_"If that's all, I will be taking my leave." she said plainly and walked away, seeming to try and maintain her cool from the words he just said. She walked out the guild doors and Naruto just sat on the same chair thinking about what happened. _

_'Was it something I said?' _

_He too stood up from his chair and followed her out of the guild doors as well._

**~0~**

**\- A couple hours later, Location: River in Magnolia -**

**_**(Insert: Naruto Shippuden- Companions)**_**

_Naruto watched the young Erza Scarlet was currently sitting by a river with her arms wrapped around her legs. She was crying for a reason that Naruto did not know about but decided not to ask. After a couple seconds of standing there looking at the crying girl, the silence was then broken when he talked making the soon-to-be S-Class mage tense. _

_"So this has been where you have been going to for the past couple of days." The 11 year old girl looked at him with surprise fining him there. She still had tears threatening to come out from her eye making him feel sympathy for her, but did not express his sorrow look._

_"What do you want Naruto." she said with a plain look while the teen blinked and gave a small smile._

_"Can I take a seat next to you?" he asked as she made no other response besides wiping her teary eye with her hand. But from the she acted earlier by trying to communicate with her, she didn't walk away so he guessed that means she meant a yes. He walked over next to her and sat down. For next couple of minutes, the two of them sat there in silence. _

_"Erza. You and I, we have a lot in common ya know?" the blond Uzumaki said startling the scarlet-haired girl once more. She looked up at the hyperactive boy. He looked up to the cloud with a little bit of sadness on his face. "The pain of being alone, I've been there ya know..."_

_ She still had some tears forming and falling from her brown eye. His previous words made her question him as he continued to stare up into the clouds. "Well if you are feeling alone, why do you act so happy all the time? Are you just doing that to make others happy?" Erza had to admit, she thought he was lying to her which got her a bit mad. If people knew how they felt, they would always at least have some pain they would show. She was about to say something else by opening her mouth once more but was cut off before anything else could be said by the golden-haired teen._

_"It's because I have learned that crying doesn't solve your problems. As long as I am my precious people with me, I can do anything." Naruto said with a smile. Erza kept on looking at the young blond as she still had some tears forming from her eyes but wiped it away calming down from her sadness. Naruto stood up from the dirt and looked at Erza while she continued to stare at him as he sat up. He lowered his hand until it stopped in front of her while she continued to look at it, seeming that the boy was waiting for her to take his hand surprising her a bit once more from his silent question._

_"Erza."_

_ The young armored girl looked up at him where blue and brown eyes met. He had a smile on his face which his tan skin shone from the setting sun making her blush a little as he continued to talk. "I will always be there for you. When times are tough or when you need someone to talk to, just call my name. After all, you are one of my friends, right? And my friends are always one of my precious people." he said with his famous foxy grin._

_She looked at blond with a small smile as she took his hand and was pulled up quickly and fell into his arms. She looked up to see his deep blue eyes looking at her as she realized that she was holding onto him. Her blush on her face from before turned into a dark shade of red becoming more visible. But like Naruto always was, he didn't notice the unusual reaction._

_"I'll always be there for you whenever you need me." he declared with a happy voice making her go from her sad expression into a slight smile, since she had never smiled before since she had arrived. "And that is a promise of a lifetime!"_

_\- End Flashback -_

* * *

While in his thoughts, he was unable to notice that Mira looked at the smiling blond as she waved her hand in front of his face, trying to snap him back to reality.

"Naruto...hey, Mirajane to Naruto...hello?" Mira sighed as the blond man continued to ignore her as he was still in his daze making Lucy sweat drop at the actions happening unknowingly to Naruto. She regained her smile, "Well...we've lost him." she said, giving up. Lucy once again stood dumbfounded on how easily she gave up. The only thing was that once he was like this, it was basically impossible for him to get out. Some people wondered if he had his own fantasy world in there, except they didn't know how right they were about having a small room in there for a large fox.

In reality, the young Dragonslayer and Ice Mage stopped fighting as they looked pale when hearing Erza's name while everyone but the blonde was freaking out. "Wait, Erza? You mean the person Natsu mentioned earlier?" she asked the former S-Rank **Take-Over** Wizard. Natsu and Gray talked about her for a bit Mira just nodded with a smile as her response.

"Well she is the strongest female wizard in Fairy Tail after all." she said. At that moment, they heard the sound of armor clacking together with large stomps. Everyone stopped and looked at the door with the sounds of random members of the guild murmuring among themselves with slight fear in their voices.

"It's her..."

"Those are Erza's footsteps..."

"She's come back..."

As the loud footsteps came closer making the room vibrate, the famous Titania of Fairy Tail walked through the guild doors with a large horn as she came outside of the guild doors and placed down with a thud that echoed across the room. Naruto whistled at the size of the _'reward'_ that she seemed to be carrying.

"I've returned. Is the master here?" the wielder of the gigantic item said as looked around they guild looking for the short guild master.

Naruto couldn't help but think about her. To him, she was now a beautiful young woman who had grown out of her short hair into long set that went down a little below her shoulder blades with scarlet hair and had now not just one, but two brown eyes. She was a bit taller from the other woman with the size of at least 5' 8" like Natsu and had a slender figure that Lucy described as amazing, since she said it out loud, as her attire consists of a custom-made armor by Heart Kreuz smiths. On her armor she had a Fairy Tail Stamp on the breastplate covering her torso in the color of red with a blue skirt, black boots and emerald-like earings.

Mira was the first to answer back. "Welcome back!" she said with he usual happy tone. "Master is currently at a conference."

"I see." the female knight replied back with a nod as member of Fairy Tail questioned the S-Class Wizard not even a few seconds after that.

"What is that humongous thing, Erza?" the member of Fairy Tail asked and she answered with a simple plain look.

"It's the horn of a monster I had defeated on my quest. The locals decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir. Is it a problem?" she finished with a small glare. The questioner just shook his head a quickly as he could saying that it is not a problem at all. There was silence for a few seconds before the blond ex-nin waved his hand and called out her name.

"Yo! Erza-chan! I knew I would see that pretty face from somewhere!" he said with his usual go-lucky tone. As soon as Erza heard the voice, she looked at Fairy Tail's Maelstrom with a happy smile.

"Oh, Naruto, I didn't see you there..." she said with her smile from his previous comment before shaking her head trying to take her mind off it. Naruto just looked at her tilting his head in confusion before she looked back at the guild with a serious face.

Mira just sighed at the blond from his cluelessness, _'How dense can Naruto be?' _she thought before Erza called out two names that were always familiar around Fairy Tail since they were the only Fire and Ice duo that fight non-stop literally every single day.

"Are Natsu and Gray here?" she said suddenly making the two rivals put an arm around each other, holding their hands with fake smiles and sweating nervously.

"Aye!" said the flying cat as he flew by them.

"O-oh hey there Erza. We're just hanging out like good friends tend to do!" said Gray with a fearful look in their eyes.

"Aye!" Natsu said agreeing with him which, for some reason, freaked Lucy out.

"WHY IS NATSU TALKING LIKE HAPPY?!" She loudly asked, shocked since he has never acted this way for the past days he knew him. Naruto stifled a laugh while Erza smiled at her other two childhood friends.

"I am pleased to see you two getting along well, though it is only natural for the best of friends to fight each other every once in a while."

"Well I wouldn't say we are the best of friends." he muttered still sweating nervously and Natsu gave out another "Aye!" to agree with him. As soon as that happened, Lucy moved over to the blond ex-nin and whispered with a question.

"Why are they so scared of her? Did she do something to them that made them like this?" Naruto just laughed a bit at her question and nodded.

"A few years ago, Natsu challenged Erza to a fight and got beat up so bad that he was scared of her ever since and Gray was found naked and she beat him up for it as well. She even beat up Loke for hitting on her once." he said with an amused smile. _'Ha! I still remember the look on his face right after she punched him. It was priceless!'_ he thought with a grin and put his hand to his chin with wonder._ 'I wonder if I still have that photo..."_

"Natsu, Gray. I want you two to do me a favor." said the scarlet-haired woman, gaining the blond's attention. Never before has he heard her actually needing help from someone before, even from him. She put her hands on her hips before continuing with her favor, "While traveling I heard something that has gotten me worried." making Naruto look at her with a raised brow.

"I would normally talk to the master before dealing with this problem but since he is not here we will have to do this on our own. Besides Naruto, the two of you are the strongest wizards here, and I could really use your help." This caused the people listening to their conversation to start talking amongst themselves before she said something else shocking the guild even more.

"Naruto. I would like you to come as well." she said looking over her shoulder. "You are the currently the strongest mage in all of Fairy Tail and I know that the more people helping, the better of a chance we have of completing this mission. Do you accept?"

Naruto just put his arms around his neck and smirked. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. It's been a while since I have had some action myself." he said making her smile before continuing. "Alright then, we will meet at the train station tomorrow morning."

_'Me and him? On the same team?' _both rivals thought as they looked at each other.

Mira just looked as shocked as everyone else in the room. "Erza, Natsu, and Gray, even Naruto working together? I never saw that one coming." said the former S-Class Mage. "This could be the strongest team Fairy Tail has ever seen!"

At the moment, Naruto just gave a large toothy grin.

"So, this is gonna be fun!" he said, putting a fist in his open palm, excited for his new adventure.

_**(Chapter End)**_

* * *

**(A/N: Yeah yeah, I know it took a while but I had Writer's Block. I couldn't figure out what to write for this chapter so yell at me! It's finally over! Long chapter too. Anyways, to answer some of your questions from the reviews and somethings you might be thinking about:**

**1.) Why did you just skip 8 years ahead instead of doing a filler?**

**A: It's because that would ruin the story! I will reveal the truth of Naruto's past later on. If I just did a filler, then there would be no point in the story adding some suspense.**

**2.) Why in the world is Erza blushing in the flashback?**

**A: Just imagine this, you embarrass yourself from standing up and fall into a boy/girls arms after he tried to help you get up. It's that simple, she doesn't have feelings for him yet but as you can tell, she does like him a little bit. Their relationship will deepen as the story goes forward though.**

**3.) How come Naruto can't control anymore tails than 6 without going on a rampage? **

**A: He didn't have the proper training. Yes he can control more of it's power but the more the tails, the more the hatred he gains since he wasn't able to conquer his hatred like in the anime/manga when he went into the Waterfall to face himself.**

**And well...that's it! Now that I am on vacation, I can write a lot more! And don't worry! There will finally be some action in the next chapter where you can see all the characters fight. Don't worry, I'll be updating soon! Thanks for reading! REVIEW! **

**LGM)**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A Blast From the Past!

**(A/N: Chapter 3 is out! Woop ****woop! Thank goodness, this took me a while to write due to something that came up after Chapter 2. It wasn't a bad thing though incase you were wondering. And man I have already got so many reviews just from only TWO Chapters...I am so happy right now that I could just run out my window, but then again I would be dead so that isn't a good idea since a lot of you guys want me to continue my story. ANYWAYS, enough with my talking, time for the story! With the power within me, I say that it sucks since I DO NOT own Naruto/Fairy Tail. This is also a Naruto x Erza Fanfic. Now for the story, hope you guys like it! R&amp;R!)**

"Naruto" - Regular Speech

'_Naruto'_ \- Regular Thoughts/Sarcastic Remark

_"Naruto"_\- _Flashbacks_

"**Naruto" - **Dragon/Demon/Monster Summoning Spirit's Speech/Name of a Justu/Names of Spells

_'_**_Naruto'_ \- **Dragon/Demon/Monster/Summoning Spirit's Thoughts

_**(Naruto)**_ \- Song Insert/Chapter Begin or End

**\- Naruto -** \- Stating a place or time

_**Summary: _**Sometimes I wondered why did they treat me like that when I was doing what they asked. Betrayed, I left, to another land and found people who I can call my Nakama, a family. Eight years later, it was then when people from my past decides its time for me to go home. That was the only problem. The thing is...I am home.**_**_

_"What you see isn't necessarily reality. Everyone has secrets… Things they can't tell others. There are no normal people anywhere."_

~Celty Sturluson

* * *

**(Previous Chapter)**

"Natsu, Gray. I want you two to do me a favor." said the scarlet-haired woman, gaining the blond's attention. Never before has he heard her actually needing help from someone before, even from him. She put her hands on her hips before continuing with her favor, "While traveling I heard something that has gotten me worried." making Naruto look at her with a raised brow.

"I would normally talk to the master before dealing with this problem but since he is not here we will have to do this on our own. Besides Naruto, the two of you are the strongest wizards here, and I could really use your help." This caused the people listening to their conversation to start talking amongst themselves before she said something else shocking the guild even more.

"Naruto. I would like you to come as well." she said looking over her shoulder. "You are the currently the strongest mage in all of Fairy Tail and I know that the more people helping, the better of a chance we have of completing this mission. Do you accept?"

Naruto just put his arms around his neck and smirked. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. It's been a while since I have had some action myself." he said making her smile before continuing. "Alright then, we will meet at the train station tomorrow morning."

_'Me and him? On the same team?' _both rivals thought as they looked at each other.

Mira just looked as shocked as everyone else in the room. "Erza, Natsu, and Gray, even Naruto working together? I never saw that one coming." said the former S-Class Mage. "This could be the strongest team Fairy Tail has ever seen!"

At the moment, Naruto just gave a large toothy grin.

"So, this is gonna be fun!" he said, putting a fist in his open palm, excited for his new adventure.

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

_**(Chapter Begin)**_

**\- One Day Later, Location: Magnolia Train Station -**

Everyone was now at the train station waiting for Erza to arrive. The only things that Naruto was hating was the two was the two rivals of Fairy Tail were going at it again. Lucy was there too while she just held her new Celestial Spirit named, Plue, were sitting on the seat next to him. She was sent here to make sure the two mages were under control by Mirajane while Erza wasn't looking but unfortunately, failed miserably. They just sat there where they just looked at the ongoing fight with a deadpanned look while the exceed just looked at his fish, gnawing on it with a happy face.

"AAAGH! Teaming up with you is the worst idea EVER!" roared very angry Natsu. Gray just looked at him intently with a glare.

"THAT'S WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY! If Erza wanted help, she should have only asked me and not a HOT-HEAD like you to come along!" the Ice mage yelled back at his friend and rival, causing some of Natsu's veins on his forehead to pop out with irritation.

"THEN TAKE CARE OF IT YOURSELF! I DIDNT WANT TO GO ANYWAYS!" the Fire Dragon Slayer yelled louder.

Naruto knew that they didn't like each other all that much but this was ridiculous. _'They don't have to fight every single time they see each other.'_ he thought with frustration.

For the next few minutes, they continued to argue calling out names at each other. Naruto just put his hand on his forehead and rubbed his temples with annoyance at the fighting until the Magnolia Train Station disappeared from his view to where his friend was being held in his mindscape. What he saw his friend and partner do made him raise a brow with astonishment. The fox was laying down holding his large ears with his paws, seeming to try and block the sound of the yelling that could be heard from outside the room making the blond groan.

"**Can you tell those annoying pests to yelling** **already!** **They are disturbing me with my daily nap with their constant complaining, so loud that I can hear even from here. And this is YOUR mind!"** he growled. Naruto just pinched the bridge of his nose with displeasure at the teen's behaviors and sympathized for his long time friend.

_'You and me both buddy, this annoys the hell out of me as well. There are times that I just want to beat them down senseless.' _

**"Then why not? I would rather have them scream in pain than hear them fighting." **Kurama said with a evil smile, showing off his fangs from the corner of his mouth. Naruto just sighed and looked up to his blood-red eyes, **"I would personally love to go up there myself if you may."** he continued. Naruto knew this was ridiculous for their fighting, but the fox would just torture them, it's that simple.

_'You know that if I even did, they still don't know about you. And what Erza-chan do to me if she saw what I did to Natsu and Gray...'_

He shivered at the thought. He didn't want to get on her bedside like last time. It reminded him to never, I mean NEVER, to try and do a prank on Erza but hiding her cake by eating it, again. He was in the hospital room for a day with a black eye, a concussion, and a of a kind, Erza's one hit knockout, to the face.

_'Well, I guess I would do the same as her if someone at my ramen. But I would probably just hit them with my **Rasengan** while I am at it. Erza just probably took it easy on me unlike Natsu and Gray. They got it worse when they tried to fight her.'_

Kurama just chuckled and replied with a grin that showed off his fangs as usual. **"Ahhhh, so your worried about your mate getting angry at you heh?"**

Naruto stumbled and took a few seconds for him to regain his balance. He looked at Kurama with a major blush, _"S-Shut up you damn fox! She is not my 'mate', dattebayo!" _he stuttered from embarrassment. Yes, he had to admit she was pretty. But for him to say that she was his _'mate'__?_ It was too embarrassing to think about. Before anything else could be said, he was shut away from his mind. He back into the real world...still hearing the fox chuckling from him embarrassing the jinchūriki.

As he opened his eyes much to his annoyance, he heard the two rivals still arguing once more as he started to look at his feet. "Damn you, Kurama..." the blond muttered with reddened cheeks from his encounter with his rather large friend.

The Celestial Wizard turned to look at him as she heard his small talk and raise a brow, "Naruto-san? Are you ok...and why are you blushing?"

Naruto just looked at the teen and blinked and gave out a small smile. "Its nothing, just remembering someone say something to me that bothered me, that's all." His blush disappeared and the both of them continued to look back at their ongoing fight.

"What are we going to do about them? They aren't stopping and it's hopeless when I tried." she said as she gave a out a big sigh and her Spirit just gave out a **"Pun!"** in agreement. Naruto thought for a while before making a mischievous smile which kind of scared Lucy.

"YO! NATSU! GRAY! If ya don't shut the hell up, I will tell a certain someone that I know, you were fighting again." he proclaimed loudly. The two mages paled and looked at him simultaneously.

"You wouldn't..." they both said and trailed off with fear with fear. Naruto was now looking at them triumphantly, finally able to be one of the people besides Makarov and Erza to stop them, even if he had to threaten them using her name.

"Just watch me, I'll do it any day." A reassuring and evil smirk appeared on his face. For a minute, they went into a stare off until he smiled. "It's about time you got here Erza-chan, we were just talking about you." he said without taking his eyes of the other two teens. The other three just looked to the direction and saw the one and only, Erza Scarlet. Lucy's jaw opened in disbelief at the size of her luggage she was carrying with ease while the two rivals putting and arm around each other with fake smiles, sweating nervously once more.

The scarlet-haired beauty just smiled as she looked at Naruto. "Yes, sorry I am late. I had to make sure I had everything before I left. And it's good to see Natsu and Gray getting along as well." The pink-haired boy agreed with her. Lucy just deadpanned once again seeing him making another Happy remark and Naruto laughing a bit from her response. He looked at Erza and gave her a foxy smile.

"It's no problem." he said as he stood up and uncrossed his arms that were folded across his chest, "Well now that we are all here, we can get going." As they were about to start moving, they heard the pink-haired teen call out Erza's name making both Naruto and Erza look back.

The female knight then turned to face Natsu and saw him with an excited yet firm look. "Yes, what is it?" she asked making the son of Igneel clench his hand in front of his face and smirked.

"When we get get back, I want you to fight me. I have gotten stronger than last time and I know now I can beat you!" Naruto beamed a smile at the teen while Lucy, Gray, even his partner Happy, looked at him in shock.

**"He reminds me of you when you were a child, Naruto." **Kurama said with a small smile to which Naruto just nodded his head in agreement and he kept his ongoing smile.

_'Yeah, he kinda does remind me of myself back then, __doesn't he.' _

Erza then too gave him a small smile and looked at him in the eyes, "You do seem stronger but enough to beat me? We will just have to see." she said with a lot confidence, "But very well, I accept your challenge." she concluded making the teen's eyes twinkle with excitement.

Natsu in response all of a sudden had small sparks of flames appearing all around him making Naruto sweat drop. "All RIGHT! I AM ALL FIRED UP!" he yelled with his voice echoing throughout the station. Naruto just gave out a chuckle, knowing what was going to happen to the fully energized teen as soon as they get on the train.

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

**\- An hour later, Location: Onibas Station -**

The team had just arrived at Onibas Station. It was relaxing, almost half the time. Unfortunately, during the ride they had to deal with Natsu's transportation sickness since it was his weakness for being a Dragon Slayer. Naruto had to feel bad for the teen since he had to admit most fast ways to get around Fiore was through trains or a magic mobile.

"Do you think they'll still be here Erza? From what it seems they might have left already." the Ice Mage asked.

The armored woman looked over to the raven-haired teen, "I have no idea. That's what we are here to find out."

Naruto walked next to them with on hand holding his orange bag as they walked through the train station in Onibas. The continued to walk for a few more seconds until the Dragon Slayer's partner and best friend pointed something out that made them all feel like idiots.

"Hey where's Natsu?" Happy chirped as his usual attitude.

Naruto gave a frustrated sigh, _'Ah...damn it.'_

Everyone looked back at the train as it sped away. "Well, there he goes." Happy's said with his usual look unchanging.

"How could I be so foolish!" Erza exclaimed, "Natsu hates transportation and I left him on the train while we were getting off! This is my fault." She then turned to the three members of her team and continued with her same guilty tone, "One of you please hit me as my punishment."

Everyone just deadpanned. Naruto just sighed and looked at his redheaded friend, "I got this." he said as walked up to her making the Ice and Celestial Mage look at him with suspicious gaze as he walked passed them heading towards her.

"Is he actually going to do it?!" Lucy said in shock. Even Gray was in shock. He stared at his long time friend with a stupefied face seeing him just walk toward Erza casually as if everything was going to be fine.

Naruto just stood in front of the female knight and brought his hand up as Erza cringed waiting for the upcoming strike. Until she felt a flick to her forehead making her give out a cute "Eep!" as she pressed her hand to the _'abused' _spot.

"Was that Erza just now?" Lucy asked, intrigued with her small squeal.

"And it was, cute..."

She looked up at the blond with a startled look waiting for something else. Instead, he gave her one of his foxy smiles and chuckled at her reaction. "Erza-chan, you need to stop being so hard on yourself. We don't wanna damage that beautiful face of yours." he said with a chuckle.

The scarlet-haired beauty turned around quickly with her back facing the whiskered blond with a small blush across her face. Naruto just scratched his head in confusion since he was only teasing her. That was when Lucy came to understand about something that she remembered Mira say to her before she left on her quest.

* * *

\- Flashback -

**\- Before the Quest, Location: Fairy Tail Guild -**  


_"Psst. Lucy!" The White-Haired Beauty of Fairy Tail whispered loudly at her blonde friend. Lucy turned her head towards the soft voice of Mirajane._

_Lucy beamed a smile at the barmaid. "Yes Mira-san?"_

_She was just leaving to go join up with her friends heading towards the train station. What scared her a bit was the way Mira came closer to her as she put a hand to her mouth trying to say something._

_"Naruto can be a bit clueless to things when it comes to a girl's feelings. Just be mindful of that incase anything happens during the mission." Lucy just looked at her tilting her head in confusion with a question mark appeared over her head. Mira just smiled in response to her bewilderment and shook her head._

_"Never mind. But if anything happens like that to him, you let me know. Got that?" Lucy hesitantly nodded and continued on her way to the train station with confusion as she thought about her experience with her kind friend._

_'I wonder what she meant by that.' _

_She shook her head at the thought and put on a smile as she continued to walk out the doors of Fairy Tail._

\- End Flashback -

* * *

_'So Erza likes Naruto?"_ Lucy blinked._'Huh, Never saw that one coming.' _For a minute, she was caught up in thought from her mind processing the new information she just saw. That was until she realized that her friends had already went over to start trouble again starting with the nearest emergency brake, stopping the trains on the tracks.

"What on earth are you doing?!"

A train conductor ran over and shouted at the armored woman, who seemed to have gotten rid of the blush from the previous comment not so long ago. The scarlet-haired replied cooly saying it was important but the man wouldn't give in. As this was happening, Naruto smirked at the event currently happening while . Lucy seemed to look at Naruto with a curious look on her face making Naruto turn his head to look at her.

"Is there something wrong?" Lucy shook her head immediately as soon as he noticed with a nervous sweat coming down the side of her face while waving her hands in front of her face.

"Nope! Nothing at all!" she said with a nervous laugh and turned around, leaving it at that. Unknowingly, right as the tall blond continued to observe the argument going on, the blonde teen peeked through the corner of her eyes seeing if he would do anything else regarding with the scary redhead.

"Erza." The three members of Fairy Tail looked at the whiskered man who had his smirk still on his face. "We should use this time to catch up with the train so we have more time to find Eisenwald. By doing that we can have more time to find out wherever Lullaby is." Naruto expounded, "Can you get a magic-mobile up and ready?"

Erza blinked at the idea, nodding with agreement. "Of course."

Within a few minutes they were already by the side of the railroad track. Much to Lucy's surprise, Naruto didn't get in the magic item. Instead, he ran along side them since he said they were "Boring". As they caught up to the train with great speed, Natsu crashed out of the window and flew towards his team and slammed onto Gray since he was riding on the roof of the car. As they fell off with their heads throbbing in pain, Naruto laughed as they rolled onto the ground.

"Natsu, are you ok?!" Erza yelled out to them from the driver's window as they screeched to a stop. After another few minutes, they started arguing once more making Naruto's headache return once more. Why? Because the two were at it once again.

"That hurt you idiot!"

"Shut up! I can't believe you left me behind like that!"

This made Erza feel guilty once more as she hung her head down slightly.

**"She is still too hard on herself kit."**

Naruto sighed. He wished that she could putting herself down like that time to time.

Erza lifted up her head with a smile. "Anyways, I am glad you are ok though Natsu." Unfortunatly for teen, his head was slammed hard from his head connecting with her armor from the powerful hug she gave people. He cried out with pain for a couple of seconds after rubbing his injured spot trying to deal with the forming bump on his head, then he sent a glare towards everyone.

"No I am not alright!" He stomped his foot with declaration and looked at the other members of the party, "Some guy attacked me on the train before you guys got here." Now this got everyone's attention.

"Who attacked you?" Gray demanded.

Natsu huffed. "The same guys who tried to take Happy." He tapped his foot impatiently while he was thinking about the unknown person who attacked him on the train until he came , "Said he was from Eisenwald." he continued making Naruto already seeing the upcoming strike as Erza widen her eyes with rage.

She slapped him hard across the face and he went crashing to the floor with a faint red mark was printed on his cheek. "You idiot!" She practically screamed at him making Lucy and Gray flinch at his pain but they knew that she wasn't done wasn't done. She stared at the pink-haired mage before continuing with her rant, "The reason we are here is because we are after Eisenwald! Why would you even think about letting him escape?!"

"What are you talking about? This is the first time I have heard about them." Unfortunatly, the brave and powerful Erza Scarlet, had forgotten about her incident on the train where she made him _'relax'. _In other words, she hit him.

Erza just gained a tick mark in annoyance. "Listen to people when they are talking to you Natsu or else you won't know what is going on!"

Lucy just gave out a nervous chuckle as she looked at the other two mages next to her. "Should we let her know that it was because of her that he doesn't know this?" she sighed as she asked the two other Fairy Tail members.

Naruto's lips formed a large smile, "Nah, this is just too fun to watch." he said with a small laugh. Lucy and Gray sweat dropped. He's actually fine with this?

After a couple of seconds, Erza finally calmed down. She walked over to the magical car and sat back onto the driver's seat once more. "Let's get going." she said with a strict voice. "If Eisenwald were on that train, we need to catch up to them before we lose their trace." Naruto just nodded his head in agreement as he walked over to the powerful S-Class Requip mage and gave her a smile, one that she gladly smiled back.

Lucy looked at them before something that Natsu said caught her attention, as well as Naruto. "He dropped something that looked like a flute with a Three-Eyed Skull." Naruto's eyes widened.

"Those bastards!" The sound of metal bending caused everyone to turn their attention to Naruto. slammed his fist onto the car, startling the other mages at his reaction. "Why would they even use something that dangerous!"

Erza looked over at her longtime friend worriedly expression, "What do you mean Naruto?" Knowing Naruto for so long, it was rare for him to snap like. The last time he acted like this was, well... a couple years ago! Seeing from the reaction he upheld, it was obvious that something was making him act the way he was now.

"A Flute with a Three-Eyed Skull, Lullaby..." he clenched his teeth trying to compress his anger. After a moment of breathing, he returned back to his usual calm personality and looked at them with pained eyes.

"Sorry about that guys. Lost my cool there." He closed his eyes and walked over by the car. Erza frowned for a while until a few words snapped her out of her concern for him and became even more unsettled at what she heard._  
_

"It's **Death Magic**." Lucy finished.

This was no joke.

The others as everyone besides Naruto looked at her with widened eyes with shock. Erza was the first to react as she yelled for everyone to get in. After that, everyone besides Erza and Naruto only saw was a blur as they sped past the train tracks towards their next destination. Naruto couldn't help but feel worried not for the people that are at risk for Lullaby, but for the speed his scarlet-haired friend was going at.

"Erza!" he yelled over the blowing air but loud enough for her to hear. She looked to the corner of her eye as she stayed on task with driving. "Are you sure you should be going that fast?! If you keep going at that pace, your magic will run out quickly!"

"I have no other choice Naruto!" she yelled back over the roaring wind, "There is no telling what Erigor and his subordinates will do once he gets his hands on the **Death Magic**!" Naruto frowned a bit but nodded. He understood what she meant. Erza saw this and smiled, "I thank you for concerning yourself with me but don't worry. I will be ok."

Naruto sighed but allowed himself to give her a small smile. His face soon turned serious as he looked up at the road ahead, _'I just hope we aren't too late.'_

* * *

**\- With Fairy Tail's Strongest Team, Location: Nearby Oshibana Station -**

After about a little over an hour, Naruto, Erza and their friends have arrived in Oshibana as they sped towards the Center of the Town as fast as they could through the streets. It was then that Naruto and Erza saw smoke in the sky becoming nervous.

"Erza, we need to speed up if you can. If there is smoke, that means something happened and it's most likely that Eisenwald is the reason behind it."

She nodded as they rocketed away speeding along the streets, destroying a lot of things. Most were the items on the sidewalks from Erza's driving, many times almost hitting people for Naruto. All in all, they were being just being the usual destructive Fairy Tail members.

**~0~**

**\- Same time, Location: Somewhere in the Streets of Oshibana -**

A team of four had just completed a mission in the Land of Fiore. It was special to them since this was their first mission out of the Great Shinobi Nations. While one was filled with happiness for their "Youthfulness" making two other members of the group sweat drop. The only one unaffected by this usual occurrence their former sensei give him a proud look, seeing his former student become one with the "Springtime of Youth." He was a tall and well-built man with high cheek-bones, thick eyebrows and black hair cut in a bowl style. Gai wore a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers and an unzipped flak jacket. He had a forehead protector on a red cloth that was worn around his waist, like a belt. His hair also had the shape of his signature bowl-style though a bit longer and shaggier, framing the side of his face and onyx eyes.

He had a determined look as he pumped his fist into the air. "YOSH! For the success of the mission, I shall do five-hundred laps around the village! And if I fail to do that, I shall do a thousand instead!" He said this a lot out in public, but the people around him seemed as if he was crazy since he wasn't at home.

He was a young muscular man, almost identical with the tall man with his hair cut like their former sensei. He too had styled his hair into a bowl-cut style and somehow, had bushy brows though not as thick as the taller man. He wore a green jumpsuit with a flak jacket, orange leg warmers, and a red forehead protector worn as a belt with the symbol of leaf with bandages wrapped around numerous times almost like him as well. It was then one of his partners gave a serious look and held a hand out for them to stop.

"Lee could you be quiet for a minute." he said unexpectedly. He was a young man with long brown hair tied in a ponytail in the end with weird eyes that had a tint of lavender in his eyes. He wore a blue martial arts shirt with the shirt opened into a V-neck showing his muscled chest as a the same metal protector that the bushy-browed man was wrapped around his forehead instead of using it as a belt.

The female in the group raised a brow with confusion. "Something wrong Neji?"

She was a young woman with brown hair, tied up with two buns and wore a pink qipao dress that showed off her thighs from the sides. She also a blue metal protector on her forehead as well with dark brown eyes and had white leggings starting from her ankles, up to her middle thigh covering some of her body with purple boots that revealed some of her feet.

After a moment, they heard some screaming coming from behind them. All four of them turned in alarm, making a stance. In the distance, they could see a large cloud of dust forming from the street the were on and saw a golden-haired man running along side a "Magic-mobile", as they called it around here. Within seconds, they were right in front of them destroying many things in the process. But what caught their attention was the man that was running along side them, since he almost crashed into Lee. They all freaked out face as they sped by them at first. It was until they saw the face of the man as he jumped over them with ease.

Whiskers...

Their eyes widened as it seemed time slowed down. The runner was to busy to notice, seemed to be in a bit of a panic but they could see clearly. Who they saw was their banished friend from Konohagakure, hoping this was not a dream that their eyes were not playing tricks on them. They stood there in silence as they saw the retreating form of the whiskered man.

"Was that who I think it was...?" Their former sensei pointed in the direction to where he went speeding off. They nodded very slowly still remembering their recent experience as he continued to run by the the speeding car.

All of them looked at each other and nodded. The bowl-cut styled man made a set of hand signs after he bit his thumb with blood seeping out of it. **"****Kuchiyose no Jutsu(Summoning Technique)!" **he said before slamming his hand down to the floor where a very small tortoise appeared in a puff of smoke, waiting for orders. He slipped a note into the shell and sped off with a trail of smoke behind it as it traveled to its destination with an S.O.S lighting its stomach.

After disappearing from view, ran after him. Hoping they can catch up to their

* * *

**\- Couple of Minutes Later, Location: Oshibana Station**

The Fairy Tail members have arrived on the scene where a man was speaking through a megaphone. The station had smoke coming through the station and was said that there was a "Train Derailment" that had occurred on the tracks.

Naruto started to walk out of the crowd and was already walking towards the steps. One of the guards saw him, "Huh? What are you-" he stopped himself short as he realized the man he was talking to was Fairy Tail's Maelstrom, powerful enough to be one of the strongest in the Ten Wizard Saints.

"I need to get in there, as well as my friends back here." he announced to the guard, making the man nod as he backed away slowly as the team ran through after giving him a thanks. As they ran down the train station hall, the young woman ran next to the blond and asked something that made the other members give nervous chuckle besides their blond friend.

"Why didn't you just knock him out, then go through? It would have been easier and we wouldn't have wasted time." Erza asked along side the ex-shinobi who just laughed at her question.

"Sometimes it's not best to just hit people like _someone_ I know for no reason, Erza_-chan_." he teased. She blushed slightly from embarrassment making him laugh a bit more as they ran towards the center of the station. They soon stopped as they arrived at the stairs where they saw Rune Knights that have been beaten to the point of unconsciousness.

"We need to stop these guys before anything else happens like what we are seeing. Come on." Naruto stated with a serious tone, one to which everyone nodded. Now that they saw the sight that was being displayed right in front of them, there is no other answer that can be put simply like the way he told them. As they entered the middle of the station, they look up to see a man laughing.

"So you Fairy Tail members did come after all." The sound came from a man with a large scythe as he sat by a window above them with a maniacal, wide grin. Surrounding them were all the members of the Dark Guild as they outnumbered them many to five.

Naruto looked up at the man, "Are you Erigor?" he asked as he crossed his arms.

In response, the speaker of the voice gave off another laugh. He was an extremely tall, lean-built and yet mildly muscular man with silver hair, which is held pointing upwards in spiky strands on top of his head. It hangs down to the left of his face in a distinctive tuft partially covering it, and reaching down to his shoulders. His eyes were dark and he had a long and wide face with sharp features and somewhat pointed ears, but had no eyebrows at all. His eyes are circled by dark lines and each of them has a simple blue tattoo right below it consisting of a pointed line going down vertically as it crossed with two more, larger horizontal lines of the same color. He wore a torn cloak with a black scarf, seeming to try and resemble the Shinigami. It also revealed his chest that had even more tattoos going down his body and had black pants and cloth that was worn like a skirt, making Naruto stifle a laugh.

"What's so funny?" he said as his grin turned to a straight face.

He looked up at him with a smirk, "Your clothing makes you look like a girl with the skirt you have there. And with that makeup you have on your body tops it off, dattebayo."

Erigor gritted his teeth with rage and sent a powerful wave of magic, but the Fairy Tail members did not budge. Then he realized something was familiar about the blond he saw. _'Why does his face look so familiar? It's as if I have seen him before today, but where...'_

At that moment, Lucy just slapped Natsu's face and started skaking him, "Get up Natsu! Time for you to wake up!" she shouted at him.

The only response he gave her was him moaning and drooling on the floor, continuing to stay from his motion sickness. Erza looked straight at the silver-haired man and had her serious face on. The only thing that woke him up was hearing a familiar voice from the time he was on the train.

"Damn Fairy Tail guild, because of you Erigor got mad at me!."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man, _'Is that...Shikamaru?'_

He stared at him for a moment until he found his words, "Hey you, what's your name?" he questioned him.

"The name is Kageyama, what's it to ya?" Naruto took a deep breath and looked away.

"Never mind, you just remind me of someone I used to know. That's all." he said plainly.

Erza just looked at him with concern, wondering why he would ask someone like him for his name. _'You will never tell me everything Naruto. I just hope someday you will trust me enough to tell me.' _she thought sadly before she looked back at the tall man.

"What are you planning to due with the Lullaby **Death Magic!**"

Naruto turned to the female master swordsman and she was furious. From what it seemed, she was almost as angry from the time Naruto stole her cake! He just had to shudder at the memory as he looked at the Ace of Eisenwald. Erigor seemed to have relaxed from his insult from before, much to his sadness, as he gave a smile that would scare children from him.

"You mean you don't know?"

He jumped as he took out his scythe and placed it around his neck as he floated in midair. Naruto rose a brow from this, flying?

_'I can feel some wind gathering around him. It seems he used **Wind Magic **to give him the ability to float in midair, using the air around him to push him upwards.' _he thought with interest, then an idea hit him. _'Maybe if I could use my chakra...maybe I could do the same thing he is doing...__' _Inwardly gave himself a point for coming up with the idea, continuing to look at the floating man who had now sat onto the speakers of the train station. Then it hit them.

"Your going to broadcast it!" Naruto and Erza said shouted at the same time, making both of them look each other and blink with slight embarrassment. Lucy just took note of this to report to Mira.

"Actually, if I just raise the volume, it will just travel throughout the whole city along with the thousands of the nosy onlookers by the entrance of this station." Naruto and Erza went from angry, to burning rage. Trying to calm himself down, he took deep breaths from before to maintain his power over Kurama's Chakra while Erza continued to glare at the man.

"You are going to make innocent people listen to the Lullaby **Death Magic**?!"

He continued to give them a smile, "Well of course, this is a cleansing after all."

He made it sound so simple. This made Naruto have even more trouble controlling the chakra of the Kyūbi. Even the people around him were having trouble breathing over Killing Intent. It was only Erza, Lucy, Gray, and Natsu who were unaffected as they looked at the Eisenwald members with confusion. What they didn't know was that Naruto was letting out his power overflow the Dark Guild members, showing them glimpses of their deaths if they fight him. Naruto wouldn't kill them though, but would most likely leave them incapacitated.

"Cleansing my mouth! What is the point out of all of this. You are taking innocent lives, all of this...it's wrong!"

"Like I said before." Erigor continued, ignoring Naruto completely, "People cannot escape this unfair world. I am just showing them that." He gave a maniacal laughter that filled the room, making Naruto scowl as he stared at the men. "After all, the reaper has come to dish out punishment!"

"That won't give back your rights back!" Lucy said suddenly, "Besides, you were kicked out of the Wizard League because of these bad things!" she continued, yelling a bit in the process.

"At this point we don't want our rights, WE WANT POWER!" he cried out with with another maniacal smile. "If we have power, we can wash away our pasts and control the future."

At this point, Naruto was about to charge him. If it wasn't for Erza being there, he might have gone in there and maybe even killed him. His emotions were clouding his sense of thinking, one thing that wouldn't be good for him no matter how strong he may be.

_'I'm not like them anymore... not again...'_

"Well, sorry flies." The look-alike of Shikamaru formed a shadow, "You're not going to make it out of here alive!"

Magic formed around him, almost like the **Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique) **as it formed around him and shot forward ready to attack the blonde. Natsu somehow gained a large explosion of energy and blocked the attack with his flames. Surprising the man even more, out from the smokes and flames came the blond in a burst of speed, almost too fast to see with the human eye. All he saw was a blur as he appeared in front of him and punched him in the gut, spitting out a lot of saliva and shot towards the wall, leaving a huge crater where he crashed and slumped to the ground.

"You know, people who attack my friends usually regret it when they mess with me. And I emphasize _me_." He growled. Most of the people from Eisenwald looked at him with shock combined with a small amount of fear at the speed of the blond. The only person who wasn't feeling the urge to run was Erigor, looking at him with delight.

"So that's you are. Fairy Tail's Maelstrom." He said this with sarcasm. "It's an honor to meet-"

"Just shut up already."

When Erigor looked at him with an annoyance, something was different about him, of course when they met eye to eye. The gaze was one that made his eyes widen in fear. Instead of his usual blue eyes, they turned blood-red and slitted like a fox. His eyes were filled rage. He could see a animal behind the blond man with a menacing look. The killing intent was unbelievable. He felt like his legs were jelly, and felt him losing breath.

Wide-eyed with fear, he was unable to take his eyes off the red-eyed man._ 'Wha-what is that thing?! A large fox?'_

Naruto stepped forward threateningly. "If you think that you will get what you want then, you will get another thing coming." he looked at him and spoke with a calm voice with quiet anger, "I hate people like you...the people who do things like this for power. Throughout my life I have seen people like this and it makes me sick to know people exist in this world just for that one thing. And trust me, I know people who have done this."

The members of Fairy Tail looked at him with confusion at his words as it repeatedly went around through their minds until the silver-haired man spoke up. "I...I will leave them to you. Show them the true power of a Dark Guild." Erigor said after he turned to face the Dark Guild members with an evil smile, one that was hiding his dread from what he saw and vanished in a blur.

"HE RAN AWAY?!" Lucy and Happy exclaimed with shock. Here he was all talk, but he runs away in the end.

"Cowards will be cowards." Naruto said plainly folding his arms once more. His slitted blue eyes converted back to it's usual shape. Thankfully, no one saw his change of his eyes besides the assassin.

**"Sometimes I wonder that you control your anger through your redheaded _'friend'_ of yours." **Kurama asked within his mind. Naruto just ignored him as he paid full attention to the guild in front of them.

"Natsu, Gray. You two go after him." Erza spoke to the two teens behind her, gaining their full attention as she continued, "If you two work together, not even Erigor can beat you."

Once she finally turned, instead of following her orders they once again got into a fight as they glared at each other with the idea. Naruto shook his head and gave a small sigh. "Are you even LISTENING?!"

Natsu and Gray simply paled. Not a second later, they ran in a cold sweat looking for the man with the scythe.

"They're running away!" a member of the Dark Guild said yelled out. A man with jumped out of the dark army as he declared himself going after him. Somehow Kageyama was able to get up from previous attack and go after them as well as he vanished into the ground leaving Naruto, Erza, and Lucy in the center of the station.

"Alright then." Naruto said with a smirk as he looked at the Eisenwald members. "It's been a while since I had a good warmup."

Erza nodded with agreement, "We will hurry after them once we are done here." she said. She put her hands on her hips, looking at them with her fierce brown eyes.

"Us against all of them?" Lucy asked with worry. Naruto looked at the blonde with a confident grin and gave a thumbs up.

"Don't worry Lucy, we've got this in the bag, dattebayo." He turned his head as he saw the scarlet-haired woman still standing there with a calm expression, "Actually, I want to see something."

"Huh?" Happy asked with a large question mark appearing over his head.

"Erza, I want you to show me how strong you've gotten since the last time we've seen each other, alright?" Erza gave a smile at him before making a stance preparing for the upcoming fight. She moved her arm as it stretched out in front of her with a magic seal appearing in front of her as a flash light made its way in front of her before dissipating where a silver sword appeared.

_**(Insert: Fairy Tail - Erza's Theme)**_

"Try insulting Fairy Tail one more time and you will never see tomorrow!"

Naruto smirked as he maintained his posture with his crossed arms, ready for the fight to begin while Lucy was shocked to see a magic sword just appearing in front of her. The whiskered man took note of this as he replied smoothly to answer her silenced question of the new mage of Fairy Tail.

"Erza uses **Requip Magic,** a Caster Type Magic that allows the users to store items in a pocket dimension so they can easily summon it at any time, even during battle. Erza is the fastest person I know who can use it and change things in literally a flash." Lucy mouthed out a big "Oh" and caused him laugh a bit. before he continued to look at his good friend, waiting to evaluate her skills. It's like he forgot what happened before with Erigor.

The Dark Guild charged as they took out their own swords preparing to strike. Before they could even swing their swords, their weapons were split into pieces from a slash of her sword with the people flying back in pain.

Naruto was enjoying the fight as he saw her fighting these men with ease. They weren't even close to match up to her power as she continued to slash at them, not missing a single hit.

"Eat this!" A man cried out as a large ball of magic appeared in his hand as others lined up next to him, letting it shoot and fly towards the knight. This was no problem for the sword user since she just dodged it swiftly by jumping into the air. Not even a second, her sword turned into a spear, striking many down each time with a single blow. With another flash of light, her weapon vanished where dual swords appeared in her hands once again, knocking out her opponents with a single hit.

**"Kansō: Tenrin no Yoroi (Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor)!"**

A golden light erupted around her body with a large glow. Before he knew it, Naruto was having a nose bleed as a major blush occurred. For one moment, Erza had changed her armor using her magic to transform into her armor. But in the process had saw her...unclothed. He soon heard the fox chuckle, then burst out into a hard laugh.

**"I'm betting that your mate just did that on purpose for you kit. I wonder when she will do this more often in front of you?" **

Stuttering, he looked at her trying to take his eyes off of his friend but inevitably failed as more blood came out of his nose and paled. He could swear that he was gonna pass out soon if she kept herself in that form.

"Damn..." Naruto thought aloud looking at her change of form. Put his hand on his face, trying to avoid looking at his friend's changing for the moment.

_'Well at least he isn't so oblivious about those parts.' _the Celestial Wizard thought. A small blush formed on her cheeks thinking about it and from seeing the change in Erza's armor as well. It's not everyday you see some woman just randomly change in front of you.

Many of the dark guild members just had hearts forming in their eyes as they saw her transform being able to see her armor come off. As the light vanished, almost every part of this armor is seemingly made of silver metal. The upper part of her new armor she wore was now a small breastplate that is composed of feather-shaped plates pointing upwards with a large metal flower on the front which extends along her hips. She also wore very large plated gauntlets sport feather-shaped plates at the edges. She wore a long skirt with a pair of plated boots which is partially hidden under her skirt. On her head, she had a tiara with prominent metal wings sprouting out from her back, giving her the ability to fly.

Swords appeared all around her as she prepared for the final attack, too late for them to realize for them to actually know who she really was except for one small man.

"Wait a minute. Erza?! Don't tell me she's-" The man was cut off by the final attack landing upon the rest of the guild.

**"Tenrin Sākuru Sōdo (Circle Sword)!"** She rose her sword up into the air and created an arc of wind from the slash, knocking out the rest of the dark guild members with a single blow leaving only two left.

"You're dealing with me now!" One of the last members jumped towards her. He clenched his fists and filled his palms with magic but before he could hit her, he was knocked out cold by a swing of her sword, rendering him unconscious like the rest.

"You are Titania Erza, Queen of the Fairies! The strongest woman in Fairy Tail!" The fat man said worriedly.

At the last move, she went back to her Heart Kreuz armor as the last member of Eisenwald ran away yelling "Screw This!". Before she could tell Lucy to go follow him, she noticed Fairy Tail's Maestrom was standing there stiff with a major nose bleed frozen in place, still with a hand over his face. She put an arm out to reach him as she looked at Lucy with worry.

"What happened to Naruto? Did I hit him with my attack?"

Lucy just gave a nervous laugh and replied with a monotone voice, "Well, I guess you could call it an attack..." she trailed off in the end.

That was when she realized what she meant. Her face turned into the color of her scarlet hair. "O-oh...I forgot he was there." She looked at her good friend. After a few seconds, she wobbled as she fell to one knee, now getting Naruto to snap out of his, um... "thoughts", to reach down and help her stand.

"Erza, are you ok?" Naruto asked.

She nodded and gave a small smile, "I will be fine. You were right though. I used too much magic when I was on the magic-mobile." She rose her head and looked at Lucy momentarily before she spoke seriously, "Go after that man who ran away from before. He must have went after Erigor."

The blonde just nodded furiously, not wanting to get on Erza's bad side dashing away with the same speed Natsu and Gray did from before in fright with Happy right behind her. Naruto soon pulled her up with his extended hand with Erza gladly taking it.

"We should go to the balcony of the station and let the people know of the plan. Now that Lucy went to go and help Natsu and Gray to look for Erigor, we should go and let the people know." Naruto grinned, except this one did not last very long like the others he usually gave as he soon stiffened. Feeling the energy that was surrounding him cause him to waver. Erza saw his reaction seeing him tense as she looked at him.

"Are you ok Naruto?" she asked concerned.

He looked at her with a very small smile, "I'm ok. Go ahead, I'll catch up. I just need to do something before anything else happens." he said softly.

The scarlet-haired beauty sighed as she looked directly with his eyes, "Very well. But whatever you are doing just be careful." she said before running up to the top of the station leaving her out of the his view.

_**(Insert: Naruto Shippuden: Confrontment)**_

"You can come out now."

From the pillars to the right and left, the four ninja from Konohagakure came out. For minutes, both sides stood still with Naruto staring at Team Gai and Team Gai staring at Naruto, completing the small event with quietude.

"You know, you look different when not wearing orange." Tenten said. Leave it to someone new to point that out. Even he had to sweat drop at this. Lee and Gai shrugged their shoulders in agreement while Neji's eyebrow twitched.

Deciding to change into serious matters, Neji decided to take it into his own hands.

"Naruto, why haven't you come back to the village."

The blond just folded his arms as he stood there looking at the three, waiting to hear his answer. "It's been eight years. I haven't had any contact with anything related with Shinobi Lands since then." he said calmly, "Anyways, why would I go back. If you haven't been told already, I was banished from the village since then."

"Your banishment was rebutted by the Hokage a year later after you left." Gai spoke up, Naruto moved his eyes towards the thick-eyebrowed man keeping his stern face.

"Naruto-san, you can return home and achieve your dream of becoming Hokage!" Lee spoke up with his usual over-enthusiastic personality, "You will once again be able to see your friends and live your youthful life!" he finished, giving his _'Nice Guy' _pose in the end. Expecting he would be his happy self and go with them, they all smiled while Gai and Lee showed off their white sparkling teeth. He uncrossed his arms and looked directly at them with silence as he thought it over, until his next words he spoke, shocked them earning silence.

"Like I said before, why would I go back."

They stood there stunned as their faces lost their smile from hearing his response. It felt like minutes as the words echoed The weapon specialist, Tenten stepped forward with an angry frown.

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that you've abandoned us even after we told you that you can come home!?" Tenten said, almost yelling in the matter.

Naruto's face didn't get softer, not even a bit. Closing his eyes lowering his head a bit and spoke asking them a question, "Look. You say that I can go home now, but answer me this."

"Well, what is it?" she asked still with an irritated voice. The four powerful ninja looked at him waiting for question from the blond.

He rose his head with opened his oceanic blue eyes, "Besides the people I already know, were the villagers happy? Or were they pained to see me go when they heard of my banishment."

At this, they were lost for words. They opened and closed their mouths a couple of times nothing came came out, making the answer clear to the blond.

"Just like I thought." Naruto turned with his back facing the ninja. "Anyways, I technically left Konohagakure before my banishment was official since I was supposed to go to a meeting before I left, marking me as a Missing-Nin." They held their breaths from the unknown information. They weren't told this, only that he was aloud to return to the village. Were they lied to...?

He looked at them one last time before he turned around and looked over his shoulder. "Now if you excuse me, I need to go and help them where I am actually needed." He started walking away after seeing them wince with the attitude he gave them. It was then when Lee rushed forward and stood in front of him with his arms out, blocking his way.

"Lee, what are you doing." Naruto said with a straight voice, this time a question they could answer.

"The fact that you will not return with us willingly is unyouthful of you. We are taking you back to the village so we can talk things through." Gai spoke very determined.

_'They're really serious about this.'_ He gave out a small sigh knowing that they won't just leave him alone without a fight.

_**(Insert: Naruto - Hidden Lotus Theme)**_

"Well, guess I better get it over with." he said calmly. Lee got a tick of annoyance as he made a familiar stance, one he hadn't seen since the Chūnin Exams.

"Ever since you have left we have not had a sensei Naruto! Do not underestimate us for we are all full-fledged Jōnin!" Lee yelled out as a large blue aura formed around his body.

**"Hachimon, Daiiok, ****Keimon, Kai (Eight Inner Gates, Sixth Gate, **Gate of View)**!"**

Naruto for once was actually astounded at the power the Taijutsu Master gave out, making Naruto uncross his arms as he looked at the ninjas standing in front of him. "Alright Lee, you got my attention. But let's see if you guys are not all talk and can actually show me how strong you guys have gotten." he smirked. The four ninja all made their stances and the Hidden Lotus user vanished leaving a large crater where he stood going for a punch at his target.

The ex-shinobi dodged the upcoming punch swiftly and landed a couple of feet away from the youthful man and made a stance with Team Gai next to their glowing teammate. _'Looks like he has been able to rise up to the Sixth Gate. I bet he could do the Seventh too, but that puts even more strain on his body if he starts out like that.'_

**"They have gotten a bit more powerful over the years Naruto, don't let your guard down for a second." **Kurama advised,** "Even in this form, he will cause quite a bit of trouble. You could take him but you need to take out his team first or they will cause problems. Do not underestimate them."**

Naruto nodded with understanding at the concept and made a stance. _'Yeah. I'm gonna have to try and end this as quickly as possible if I want to get with the others. Let's just hope it won't take long.'_

Then he stormed on with an attack, as a battle between old friends began.

* * *

**(A/N: Cliffhanger! Naruto finally meets up with Team Gai and they duke it out! The action in the story has now arrived! And as you can see, that is only ONE of the reasons why he stayed behind. The other reasons will be revealed later on in the story. Now to answer some of your questions you may be thinking about this chapter!**

**1.) Why did Naruto blush at Kurama's teasing at the ****beginning?**

**A: If you were by someone saying that he called someone your _'mate', _wouldn't you be embarrassed? He is technically calling that person your future wife. And since he is talking about his friend that he knew since he was a child who he thought was pretty, then of course he would be blushing! **

**2.) How was Naruto that fast?**

**A: Eight years guys. You don't think he was fooling around all that time did you?**

**3.) Why did Naruto freak out from seeing Erza change armor?**

**A: He is seeing a full grown woman all of a sudden get unclothed right in front of him. If you were a man, then you would too. Especially if you had a master like Jiraiya who actually writes those types of books for a living. **

**Hoped you liked the chapter! REVIEW! **

**~LGM)**


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom

Chapter 4: Friend or Foe! Naruto vs. Friends?

**(A/N: Hey guys I'm back! I'm not dead! Isn't that great!**

**...**

**I'M SORRY! I had the worst writer's block you could ever have! I was busy for the last couple months with work and I could't do ANYTHING. I know what you're thinking. **

**Excuses, excuses.**

**Besides that, I also updated the past chapters for the story for future plans. I fixed some important parts so if you want you can read the previous chapters and you'll see some changes. Most of them were parts for the story line. ****Now for the chapter that everyone has been waiting for, I Welcome Chapter 4 of "Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom"!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.)**

"Naruto" - Regular Speech

'_Naruto'_ \- Regular Thoughts/Sarcastic or Over-expressive Remark

_"Naruto"_\- _Flashbacks_

"**Naruto" - **Dragon/Demon/Monster Summoning Spirit's Speech/Name of a Justu/Names of Spells

_'_**_Naruto'_ \- **Dragon/Demon/Monster/Summoning Spirit's Thoughts

_**(Naruto)**_ \- Song Insert/Chapter Begin or End

**\- Naruto -** \- Stating a place or time

_**Summary: I did what I was told but again I was treated as an outcast. I followed orders, and I was banished for it. Sometimes I wondered why did they treat me like that when I was doing what they asked. Betrayed, I left, to another land and found people who I can call my Nakama. Eight years later, it was then when people from my past decides its time for me to go home. Thing is…I am home.**_

_"This I choose to do. If there is a price, this I choose to pay. If it is my death, then I choose to die. Where this takes me, there I choose to go. I choose. This I choose to do."_  
_~Terry Pratchet_**  
**

* * *

_**(Previous Chapter)**_

He looked at them one last time before he turned around and looked over his shoulder. "Now if you excuse me, I need to go and help them where I am actually needed." He started walking away after seeing them wince with the attitude he gave them. It was then when Lee rushed forward and stood in front of him with his arms out, blocking his way.

"Lee, what are you doing." Naruto said with a straight voice, this time a question they could answer.

"The fact that you will not return with us willingly is unyouthful of you. We are taking you back to the village so we can talk things through." Gai spoke very determined.

_'They're really serious about this.'_ He gave out a small sigh knowing that they won't just leave him alone without a fight.

_**(Insert: Naruto - Hidden Lotus Theme)**_

"Well, guess I better get it over with." he said calmly. Lee got a tick of annoyance as he made a familiar stance, one he hadn't seen since the Chūnin Exams.

"Ever since you have left we have not had a sensei Naruto! Do not underestimate us for we are all full-fledged Jōnin!" Lee yelled out as a large blue aura formed around his body.

**"Hachimon, Daiiok, ****Keimon...Kai (Eight Inner Gates, Sixth Gate, **Gate of View, Open)**!"**

Naruto for once was actually astounded at the power the Taijutsu Master gave out, making Naruto uncross his arms as he looked at the ninjas standing in front of him. "Alright Lee, you've have gotten my attention. But let's see if you guys are not all talk and can actually show me how strong you guys have gotten." he smirked. The four ninja all made their stances and the Hidden Lotus user vanished leaving a large crater where he stood going for a punch at his target.

The ex-shinobi dodged the upcoming punch swiftly and landed a couple of feet away from the youthful man and made a stance with Team Gai next to their glowing teammate. _'Looks like he has been able to rise up to the Sixth Gate. I bet he could do the Seventh too, but that puts even more strain on his body if he starts out like that.' _he thought until his partner spoke up.

**"They have gotten quite powerful over the years Naruto, don't let your guard down for a second." **Kurama advised,** "Even in this form, he will cause quite a bit of trouble. You could take him but you need to take out his team first or they will cause problems. Do not underestimate them."**

Naruto nodded with understanding at the concept and made a stance. _'Yeah. I'm gonna have to try and end this as quickly as possible if I want to get with the others. Let's just hope it won't take long.'_

Then he stormed on with an attack, as a battle between old friends began.

**~0~**

_**(Chapter Begin)**_

**\- A Couple Minutes Later, Location: Oshibana Station -**

"ERIGOR'S REAL TARGET IS THE GUILD CONFERENCE?!"

For the past few minutes, Gray had found out their ideal from the start from beating the member from Eisenwald who went in to attack them while Erza warned the people outside the station very simply.

They were going to die. Oh that's comforting.

As soon as every citizen left Erigor appeared and trapped in the female wizard in a wind vortex one that he said was impossible for her to break through. In an attempt to escape she into the wall that injured her arm in the process, proving his point. The man left it at that and vanished with a burst of speed. Gray ran to the middle hall to find Erza to only find her interrogating some of the members from her previous fight. He told her crucial information from their plan to not kill the civilians, but to kill the guild masters. From the information given, the man Kageyama was the only person capable to be able to break the spell.

Shocked from their newfound information, they ran through the halls to meet up with Natsu who had finished up his battle with Kageyama. It was only then they found Kageyama and turned just in time to see him stabbed in the back from his own guild members. Oh he lived, but had fallen unconscious from the strike that had pierced through his chest.

One thing they knew about Natsu was that if he was around when something like this happened he would be on fire. Lets just say that the almost noseless man who almost killed his own teammate in the end was enough to say the Dragonslayer went into _'Rage Mode' _and didn't really come out...normal, in the end. Now another few minutes past and they met up with Lucy around the back of the station, telling her the newfound information.

"He had blocked us from the only way of method from reaching Clover with this spell. When Erigor and I had met after my fight, he was traveling through the air."

"We might be able to catch up to him with the Magic-mobile." Gray said suddenly, until he gave a depressive sigh in the end. "But until we dispel this barrier we are stuck inside of first. Until then we won't be able to do anything." This really annoyed the members as they too gave the same depressive sigh after Gray spoke his words.

"What about Naruto?" All members of the team turned their heads to voice of Lucy. You know, it wash't a bad idea, no, it was brilliant. "He is Wind Specialist, right? He could do something about the spell!"

She was right.

She only found out a few days ago when Natsu told her who he exactly was, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom. Ok so she was curious. There was nothing wrong with that. From what she heard, he doesn't really make an appearance every so often even in the guild. Most of the time they say he takes missions and leaves without a second thought. He's also a really stange person in her opinion. He says that he does it to keep him entertained. She couldn't help but sweat drop back then.

"Well unfortunately we can't since we don't know where Naruto is right now." Erza spoke up. "He said he will catch up with us later but right now we can't ask for his help. Right now its up to Kageyama here can take off the spell."

The other mages frowned after her. This was going to be harder than they thought. Where was Naruto when they needed him?

If you only knew.

In a nice attempt by Natsu the young pink-haired mage attacked the barrier with full-on force in to try and break the annoying yet powerful spell. He could feel skin started getting cuts and scratches around his body as he kept on striking the wall blocking their path. It was diffidently worth a shot but was still unable to even with his **Dragon Slayer Magic. **

"Damn it!" His fist once more blew up in flames. He started to pick himself off the ground and slammed his burning fist into the barrier. To his surprise, he was grabbed and pulled from behind away from the wall before he pressed harder. And it wasn't Erza or Gray since he saw them right in front of him.. He turned to see who had taken hold of his waist and looked to see the blonde Celestial Wizard was the one responsible. For a few seconds he continued to look at Lucy. They continued to stare at each other until she started her face started to redden very lightly and couldn't help but make Lucy stutter.

"W-what?"

Even for a girl, she was wrapping her arms around a boy when they weren't even together is kind of embarrassing._  
_

Seconds past and he kept his gaze on her face before she jumped back startled. She yelped and jumped backwards from his sudden burst of a yell. She backed her head a bit from the current position he was in as he continued his wide smile, a large one contained with excitement. The next words actually made her blink in surprise.

"Your Celestial Spirits!" said Natsu.

Has he ever heard of personal space? He was literally standing right in front of her face.

She backed up back up a bit from the closeness from the other teen. "Remember the mission at Everlue's Mansion when I teleported by going through the Celestial Spirit World?" It was almost like he was unfazed by the awkward moment between the two teens.

Lucy nodded, "Yeah but normal people would suffocate and die if they went through, though." Lucy said but apparently pointing out the problem for Natsu that was not enough for him seeing his confused look on his face. She sighed, "We would also need another Celestial Wizard besides me to open it from outside of the station to open the gates. Basically without another Celestial Wizard it won't work." she explained in simple terms enough for him to hopefully understand.

"You're confusing me. Just hurry up and do it."

At this point, Lucy was both annoyed and dumbfounded by his words. Gray couldn't help but sigh once more. I guess when you're raised by a dragon you don't really learn other things besides learning magic.

The only one who wasn't interested was Erza. It was the way Naruto acted in the station, it was his last words that made her get stuck with not only his reactions from the previous events today, it was his words. She remembered it clearly as those words continued to echo in her head.

* * *

_"If you think that you will get what you want then, you will get another thing coming." he looked at him and spoke with a calm voice with quiet anger, "I hate people like you...the people who do things like this for power. Throughout my life I have seen people like this and it makes me sick to know people exist in this world just for that one thing. And trust me, I know people who have done this."_

* * *

She frowned sadly. She just hoped one day that he would tell her what happened in the past.

_'Naruto, just what did you mean by that.'_

She groaned and rubbed her temples with her available hand from overthinking. Thinking too hard gave her headaches. This time another scream echoed through the halls but instead of Natsu, it was Happy. She turned her head to the magical blue cat.

"I just remembered, Lucy!" Happy said as he started walking slowly toward the blonde. Instead of the way that maybe he wanted to probably be more dramatic, this made him seem a bit weird from his the creepy look on his face. Lucy chose her words wisely, but carefully, but maybe not careful enough.

"...Remember what?"

"WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU ON THE WAY HERE!"

She flinched and backed away from almost immediate answer from the crazed cat. It only took a moment for her to try and understand what he meant and snapped her fingers, "Oh, you mean when you were calling me weird?"

Erza and Gray looked at them with confusion before Happy brought an unfamiliar golden key. Lucy gasped from looking at the magical item in shock. Instead of thanking the happy Happy for showing her the item, she grabbed onto his mouth and tugged on it as if it was stretchable rubber. Even Erza felt bad for the young cat, though usually she brought the pain to Natsu and Gray was an understandable concept since they fought almost every time.

"Happy, you shouldn't steal other things from people." Lucy scolded. The poor cat's lips were shut tight from the grip she had on him. The blue exceed looked at her innocently. He spoke but it came out muffled though it was enough for her to understand. It is hard to fight back when you are facing feminine fury.

"But Virgo told me to contact you!" She let go of her grip and blinked with surprise. "She said when Everlue got arrested, so was his contract with her!" he finished after the release of his closed lips.

From what it seemed, Lucy didn't really think that "it" was a she from her appearance. She deadpanned in response as the image of the large Celestial Spirit hovered over her head. She soon made a small smile at Happy before responding to his statement.

"Even though I am glad that she wants a contract with me, this isn't really the time right now." Lucy replied with her angelic voice, "First we need to find a way out of here. Naruto-san is not an option since he is somewhere like Erza-san said and this Eisenwald guy is unconscious." she pointed at bandaged man in the tried to reply with an answer, but before anything could be said, she grabbed his small white cheeks and pulled his, extending his rectangular blue cat face in the process. An ominous gaze fell over them and threatened the cat with a deadly voice.

"Why don't you just shut up and speak like any NORMAL cat!"

"You know, she can be pretty scary sometimes." Gray said aloud with a slightly scared voice in the air. Now he knew that this would happen to him if she ever got on her bad side and made a note-to-self. Natsu agreed with a nod of his head with a positive attitude trying to hit the bit of fear in his eyes from her quick nod of his head with a large smile.

"She must have learned it from Erza!"

Erza felt the urge to pound the pink-haired mage. She REALLY did. You know, maybe it would be better to release it on him during their match when they get back. Yeah, that sounds better.

"I'm sorry." The room dramatically darkened like one of those overdramatic TV Shows as he stood in the middle. Somehow a spotlight shot to life from wherever it was and was now shinning brightly on the blue exceed. Erza rose a brow before he continued with his sob story.

"I just thought that since Virgo has the ability to drill holes, I thought that she could go under the barrier and go around."

His revelation for once, almost everyone were actually shocked and impressed since he usually only talks about is fish...or agreeing with Natsu. It was only the pink-haired teen like he didn't know what was going on.

"NANI?!"

Gray noticed Natsu's reaction and face palmed. _'Why couldn't he be smarter when the time was needed?'_

In seconds, the area turn into what you could almost call a "Love Fest" as everything became sunny with pink hearts floating around everywhere. It was all because of Lucy's comforting. The result was Happy deadpanning and soon saw new member of Fairy Tail down on her knees, begging for his forgiveness with the same background behind her when Happy was looking down in sadness. Erza blinked. It was ironic on how she soon turned from being the one being cruel to the blue cat and soon was the one to bow down to the him as if he was royalty.

The only way for him to forgive her was to give the sad Happy fish. He happily used that idea to his advantage with a glee filled smile. Now it was the other members of the group to deadpan for the price to receive his forgiveness for his advantage. Lucy didn't move and accepted the deal, not caring about the amount of fish she would have to buy and only caring about the key for the time being.

After a moment, Lucy had received the golden key. The other members of the Fairy Tail team were waiting for the barrier problem to be solved, specifically Erza, tapping her foot a bit impatiently. Casting her spell, everyone looked too see a petite, short pink-haired beauty shoot from the ground with a gold flash of light. Becoming even more visible, Erza saw she had blue eyes and wore a typical maid outfit with a black undercoat with a white frilled-trim apron over it.

"Who are you?!" Lucy asked in shock at the spirit's appearance. From the way it seemed, she, and by "she", meant by Lucy, had not been expecting this to Erza's point of view.

She watched the current conversation as the spirit introduced herself as the Celestial Spirit to Lucy, her "Mistress", "Virgo." Natsu soon joined and started chatting with her as they had smiles on their faces. Then all of a sudden, he said that he liked her "Gorilla Form" better. She raised a brow at this until she change form, making her understand what the Natsu meant. Virgo has now taken the form of an extremely tall and overweight woman with a brutish face and two short pony tails. Erza didn't really care if she was ugly or anything like that as long as she could get them out of the trap. Only Lucy and Gray were horrified by this.

"No don't listen to him! Go back to your skinny form!"

Virgo happily followed her orders from the Celestial Wizard as she went back the appearance she appeared from the key. Both blonde and black-haired mages gave out a large sigh of relief seeing that she had listened to her Wizard.

"Anyways, can we do the contract later? We are in a situation right now and we can't really wait." Lucy asked her Celestial Spirit. The Spirit nodded respectfully and called her "Mistress" once more, much to her displeasure. Lucy pouted at the name while The other three mages looked at her intently, waiting for the pink-haired spirit to dig the hole. Waiting a little later, they had to deal with Virgo coming up with names for her master, listening to all suggested names. They deadpanned at the word "Princess", obviously to the young teen's liking.

Natsu started grumbling. "Just hurry up."

Virgo's personality change was sudden as soon as she turned serious. Her body flashed with another golden light and the ground beneath her exploded. When the dust cleared, they saw a large hole in the ground from the Celestial Spirit that connected to the outside.

The others did a small cry for Lucy's job well done while Erza gave her a hug. The poor girl got slammed into her hard armor so hard you could hear the sound of bone smashing against metal, not caring for the bruise that might appear on Lucy later on, she let go of her are let her fall to the ground but got up a few seconds later, rubbing her head and started muttering to herself on how she wouldn't like that to happen to her on a daily basis.

Getting in the large hole, she saw Natsu take hold of the badly hurt Eisenwald member, confusing Gray as he raised a brow.

"Why are you bring him along, Natsu?" Gray asked.

The Fire Dragon Slayer looked over to his friend and rival, "If I left him here, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth." His face remained seriousness and determination.

Erza smiled proudly at his answer that he had told them. People should let people die like that. It's cruel to let them suffer and wait for their upcoming death, not that she wanted him to die. They all started taking their leave of the building. Looking back at the station, Erza stood still with the roaring wind echoing through the halls.

"Erza, come on! We won't catch up to Erigor if you stay there!"

It took a moment but she finally turned away from the large building and jumped into the large hole. Coming down the hole, she met Gray who had his usual plain straight face.

"Sorry Gray." Erza said, "I had something on my mind but lets get going."

He looked at her the same way but replied with a simple shrug and following the others. Thankfully he wasn't behind Erza or he might have had a view that would have cost him a nosebleed, if you understand why.

She closed her eyes, _'Naruto, whatever you're doing you better get out soon.' _

Little did she know of the fight he is in.

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

**\- With Naruto, Location: The Forest (Outside Onibas Station) -**

**_(Song Insert: Naruto Shippuden - Kokuten *Extended*)_  
**

"**Konoha Senpū!(Leaf Whirlwind!)**"

Naruto raised his arm to block the incoming attack with a loud sound sound as he skidded to the side on the cold hard ground. Continuing his attack, Lee let loose a volley of kicks and punches with incredible speed.

_'I knew Gai and Lee's speed when I last saw them but this is __ridiculous!'_

Neji soon appeared right from under Lee with his arm charged back. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he pushed his leg away and dodged avoided the extended arm by turning to the side. With a powerful elbow to the chest he send Neji backwards towards his other two teammates.

Following that attack, Gai leapt forward with a fist held back. Before it could land on his face Naruto ducked and slammed his elbow into his stomach. Gai grunted and felt the air in his lungs leave his body. Naruto then snapped his leg up to strike his chin and used his other to snap kick him in the chest once more and sent Gai tumbling across the ground. He flew backwards in the air and stopped as soon as he put his hands to the floor with a flip and landed on his feet with a stance next to his team. Neji kept his Jūken stance and looked over to the tall man with his pupilless eyes.

"Gai-sensei, are you ok?" Lee asked. The other two had the same question, making sure he would be ok for another attack like that.

"I am fine Lee." Still not taking his eyes off his opponent, he got back in his stance. Even if it was that was a good counter, that wouldn't be enough to take him out. But if he felt a few more of hits like that, he might crack a rib or two. _'His reaction time is incredible, that is not a doubt. To keep up with Lee and I is an accomplishment! But something just makes me quite nervous. He is almost way too calm for my liking. He doesn't even seem to be a bit on the edge when he is fighting us.' _

"Just come back home with us Naruto. We don't want to fight you but if we have to, we will."

Naruto's straight face was an answer but he would rather put it very simple. "You know Gai," Naruto moved his hand over and under his coat to what it seemed like a seal. "I've already have given my answer. But..." He ripped it off as it evaporated into nothing. "I'm done with words.

He blurred. They could feel the wind pass right by them. A second later he reappeared behind Gai with his arm held back. Gai's eyes widened, _'He's about as fast as I am!'_

In a good attempt to strike Gai, Naruto managed to try and land a kick the bowl hair styled man, but managed to dodge.

Neji thrusted his palm forward in attempt to hit the blond in the chest but was noticed by the ex-shinobi. Naruto smirked put up his hand and pushed it to the side. He sidestepped and made a forty degree turn. Quickly, he went under the palm struck and landed a powerful punch to his ribcage. Neji felt the pain and coughed. Naruto got back up again, jumping in the air and kneed him in the chin. He was sent flying and tumbled on the ground. He caught himself before he hit the wall by skidding across the floor on his feet. Feeling a slightly warm liquid he wiped it off to see newly bled blood.

Both started off again where they exchanged attacks. The snap kick Lee set off to his head was blocked by Naruto's arm with other arm deep within the defenses. Lee fell backwards from a quick jab but leapt backward to catch his balance and landed on his feet next to Neji. This was getting a bit hard for them seeing Naruto was actually about to attack them, that was until he sensed an incoming punch from his side and thankfully, managed to block it.

"Do not turn your back on me, Naruto!" The man landed a strong kick to Naruto's chest and made him skid backwards. He could feel that one but he wasn't done. Any like before might just be able to make him bruise. Before Gai could have another opportunity, he fired a punch straight to his cheek. Gai felt the attack hit the bone and both men went into a full-on Taijutsu match.

"This is getting tricky Lee." The called young man looked over to the Hyūga genius, "Even with my **Byakugan **I can barely follow their movements, same as you." The black-haired man moved his white eyes over to his friend so he could make eye contact, "The three of you are going at incredible speed and I don't know if I can keep up for long so we need to end this quickly if we want to win."

"Agreed. Though his taijutsu style is one I have never seen before. It is unpredictable, that is what makes it dangerous. But I will distract him while you sneak up from behind and hit him with the Jūken. Tenten, while me and him do that, try to attack Naruto-kun with any weapon you are best at."

The trio nodded in agreement and leapt into action.

Lee charged at incredible speed with his leg ready for a kick. Naruto responded quickly. From the punch he caught from Gai, he gripped his hand and moved his available arm to move in and grab the man's arm. With that, he threw the tall man at Lee, something he wasn't expecting and caused them to crash together into a roll. Neji followed in quickly and made a Jūken stance.

"**Hakke Kūshō (Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm)!**"

Neji forced his palm forward where a large stream of wind erupted from his palm and almost struck his chest. The reason I say almost was because he swapped himself out for a large weapon behind the Hyūga. Neji sensed this attack and turned quickly but it was too late. Naruto slammed his fist straight into his gut. Neji never felt so much pain before in his life. It was like getting pierced by that arrow when they tried to retrieve Sasuke.

Right after that Naruto did a 360 degree kick to the head and sent Neji flying and seethed in pain. Before anyone could interfere, he formed a very familiar seal. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique).**"

Twelve replicates of himself puffed into existence next to their boss and charged into battle. They seemed to already know what to do, splitting into 3 groups of four and attacked the men. It only left Tenten to face Naruto.

Ok, so maybe this might be harder than she though. They were all separated and all her friends and sensei are busy. Worst of all they could barely touch Naruto on their own or even as a team. The only time he got hit was when Gai struck him in the chest but now...

With no time to waste she threw down a smoke bomb as the area was covered in a large plume of smoke. It was silent besides the large amount of yelling with the other three ninja. He heard the sound of weapons hurdle at him as he dodged the large amount of weapons that struck the dirt ground. Above him, Tenten appeared from the air and swung down with her katana with a victorious smirk. That was until she heard the loud sound of metal meeting metal clashed. The smoke cleared and she was in shock. Another sword was in her way, and the sword was his own. His hands were over his head with a katana in his hand.

"Nice try, but try to do that again when I actually can't hear you."

In the center of his forearm she saw an unfamiliar seal that glowed with blue chakra. Her eyes widened in shock from the seal. She knew what it was, _'He's using the same sealing technique as I do for my weapons! And he placed it on his arm of all places!'_

Finally, Naruto stepped into a proper position and started pushing down on her with his katana. She grit her teeth, trying to hold her ground. She could only think of one thing though.

Strong.

She quickly dodged to the right and brought back her weapon, trying a sideward slash at his side. He parried the blade with ease. With the buttcap of the katana he hit her in the leg. She winced and could feel the bruise forming around the spot where he hit her but tried to ignore the pain. She started clashing. She tried everything. She tried slashing, she tried stabbing, downward, upward, left, right, nothing.

"I thought you were supposed to be a weapons specialist Tenten." He parried another slash, "I could think of many other people I know who are better than you."

With a quick roundhouse kick, he struck her in the hip. The young woman stumbled and lossed her balance as the sword he possessed glowed flowed with blue chakra. Flicking it upwards, he made a clean cut through her sword. Finally, he formed a **Rasengan **and made the final blow to her stomach. She flew backwards and out into a tree, knocked out cold.

"Tenten!"

Lee was about to go over and help but two **Kage Bunshins** in front of him were making it difficult. He dodged an incoming kick and struck one of the clones chest with a solid kick and puffed into smoke and the other clones turned into smoke when he felt a palm strike his chest. Neji was panting heavily and didn't seem to be in good condition.

His shirt was torn in various places as well as his pants. A small trail of blood trailed from his lips and had quite a couple of cuts and bruised on his body. Those clones did a number on him but the same could be said for Lee as well. Lee had lost his form and finally started to feel the side effects of the Jutsu. His arms were in pain, his legs were in pain, chest, neck, literally everything. He was having a tough time just to even raise his arm but his determination got the best of them.

Gai tried to catch his breath from the tiredness he had to deal with. Naruto was basically beating them down. He knew Lee couldn't go back into **Sixth Gate**, better yet not even the first. Even the Hokage would have trouble fighting himself in that form. He looked at his old students he taught and he knew for sure they were exhausted. They had sweat dripping down their chins, cuts and scratches along their skin, torn parts of their clothing, yet Naruto was just standing there with a relaxed look.

"Hey Neji." Naruto called out to the Jūken user, "You better find a way to cover your blindspot better, cause you're about to get smacked." Naruto pointed out.

Neji was confused at what he meant before shock came into his senses. He quickly turned to counter the unseen **Kage Bunshin **only to be elbowed in the ribs. He cried out in pain as he felt some bones snap. Lee and Gai were in shock when the witnessed the attack. When Neji was in midair, another clone beneath him appeared from the ground with a **Rasengan** in hand, except this one was different. The color of the ball was much brighter in color and seemed to take the form of a shuriken. It took Kidōmaru a long time before he found the **Byakugan**'s blindspot, something almost impossible to find. Even the only they knew that so far, it was Kidōmaru who knew. So how did find it and figure it out so quickly?

Naruto sighed. "You know, considering everyone though he was a genius I thought he would have fixed that problem by now."

Now Lee was determined. If he could beat Neji so simply then...He will not lose to Naruto! Of course he's worry about Neji but the village needs him. No, his FRIENDS need him! That is his goal right now and he must succeed! But it was almost like Naruto read his mind.

Naruto's head turned to the young and injured and young taijustu master, "Lee, you are in no condition to fight. I can tell just by looking at you that your body has suffered a lot of strain from using the **Sixth Gate **and with those wounds you have, you wouldn't even last a minute against me."

_'This is bad. Lee is barely able to stand from activating the **Hachimon (Eight Inner Gates) **side effects and wounds he took from Naruto and Neji and Tenten are unconscious. This is not turning out the way I expected.'_

"You know, you guys have improved since eight years ago though." Gai looked over to Naruto who had his arms folded. "I admit it was kind of tricky fighting you guys in the **Hachimon (Eight Inner Gates) **but when you guys are separate you guys are pretty easy to beat. It's only hard when you guys were together."

He pointed over to the area where Lee stood. "Simply to say, Lee was undeniably powerful. But the flaw in his technique was that he didn't start from the **First Gate**. The reason for that is that you can start your build up better but he just went to the **Sixth Gate** immediately, causing him to feel the hard strain already. Even I know that to go from one skipping to another level almost immediately might not be the best, even if it is the Hachimon (Eight Inner Gates). Neji has definitely earned the rank of High Rank A Jōnin but he needs to break the flaws of the **Byakugan**. Once he does that it will be much harder for opponents to beat him since the **Byakugan **can only go so much to see the the area around him. Tenten over there is OK, but she should work on practicing her skills more instead of just grab and go like she does with her weapons. There is no point of getting them if you don't focus on mastering them."

Finally, Gai caught his breath and stood shakily. He nearly had enough chakra to even perform the jutsu right now. Seeming as it may, he may just have to use the only option left whether he liked it or not, he had to bring him home. He didn't take his eyes off his opponent but he needed Lee to leave. He had to do this.

"Lee. Take Neji and Tenten and go. I will handle this for now."

"But Gai-sensei-"

"GO!"

He never saw his sensei like this before but if he though what he was think he was about to do, then it might be for the best.

Seeing Lee put Neji and Tenten over his shoulders and leep into the trees gave him a good sign of relief. Now he didn't have tot worry about them being in the range of his attack. The man brought himself into a horse stance. His arms crossed into an _X _with his hands in fists like claws.

_'**Hachimon...Daiichi, Kaimon, Kai (Eight Inner Gates...First Gate, Gate of Opening, Open)!**'_

_'**Daiini, Kyūmon (Second Gate, Gate of Healing).**'_

_'**Daiisan, Seimon (Third Gate, Gate of Life).**'_

_'**Daiion, Shōmon, Kai (Fourth Gate, Gate of Pain).**'  
_

_"**Daiibon, Tomon, Kai (Fifth Gate, Gate of Limit, Open)!**'_

At this, Gai's body started steaming. Green chakra started flowing around his body. Then it bursted around him. The trees started breaking and snapping into halves. Naruto had to move his arm over his eyes to prevent the hot steam blowing into his eyes. He grit his teeth, _'His chakra is rising, higher than Lee's in the **Sixth Gate**! Whatever he's going to use is going to use a lot of chakra!' _

_'_**Hachimon, Daiiok, Keimon (Eight Inner Gates, Sixth Gate, Gate of View)!**'

Finally...

_'**Hachimon, Kyōmon...KAI (Eight Inner Gates, Gate of Wonder...OPEN)!**'_

_**(Song Insert: Naruto Shippuden - Red Rose)**_

At that moment, Gai's body emitted-covered in a flash of light. The surrounding area bursted with a white flash. Had to move his arm over his eyes completely from the blinding light. The trees flew out of the ground from the roots and leaves were blown across the forest. When he saw Gai the man now had blue chakra around his body instead of green. It surrounded him in a sphere and his eyes changed from eyeless white to glowing, pupil less red. He stood on the ground with his left hand open, facing Naruto and his right hand closed in a fist in front of his left.

"This one move I am about to use is a special single blow attack. It's something you'll rarely see."

Naruto's eyes widened at that. If this move really was a one hit technique then...

Gai finally made his fist slam into that of his open left hand. When he made the sound of a clap, Naruto actually was shocked. Seeing the large white head of a tiger formed around Gai actually put him on edge. The man shifted his hands into another position.

"FEEL THE POWER OF YOUTH! **HIRUDORA (Daytime Tiger)!**"

Naruto's eyes widened before he saw a lot of compressed wind near him, seemingly running as if it were on ground.

The attack caused an explosion that could be felt for miles.

**~0~**

Erza was driving once more with Gray, Lucy and Kageyama in the backseat. Natsu went ahead with Happy at unimaginable speed that even Jet from Levi's Team couldn't even match. Her eyesight was getting blurry. She could barely even see the road she was on making it even more dangerous. The little path they were on was narrow that if she slipped on the wheel they might fall into the large canyon. There was nothing preventing them from falling. But she didn't expect the earth to start shaking violently.

_'What the-!?' _

She couldn't control the car, starting to rock back and forth, nearly falling off the tracks as screams started coming from the back. it took a while before gaining control. She stopped the flow of magic immediately, forcing the car to come to a halt with a painful screech by the rubber tires against the tracks. The earthquake continued for another minute before it stopped suddenly like the way it came. Erza breathed heavily from the frightening moment she had just participated in.

Ok, so maybe it wasn't just her exhaustion that could have caused them to die, but the power that she felt...was not done by natural causes.

"Erza!" The called woman looked to the window where Gray had spoke. His head popped out of the magical car, one showing worry and shock, of course he did. He did just experienced an earthquake.

"What was that?!"

"I don't know!" she lied, "But there is no time for questions!"

She started channeling her magic once more. She could feel the draining of her magic as the magic mobile's tires screeched once more and speed away at a faster pace. Gray fell back to his seat from the speed they started off at and started grumbling about how impatient she was. Erza had to get to Natsu quick or she might pass out to magic exhaustion.

**~0~**

**\- Back in The Forest -**

The area was surrounded by the dust floating in the air, but he knew what happened. Instead of where a quarter of the forest should be, a large crater dozens of yards down took it's place. Gai fell to one knee and was trying to catch his breath. He lost his form from the **Seventh Gate **and went back to his normal state. That took a lot out of him. Good thing his students were a bit further away from them thanks to his His used-to-be students were in another area so he knew they would be fine but any further, he would be done.

The dirt in the air was still in the area as it flowed around the immense crater. A crater that took out one quarter of the forest. The dirt was still in the air so he could barely see, but when it did, it made him relax. Naruto was on the ground unconscious, battered up and beaten. His clothes were ripped but that could be fixed.

He sighed in relief, "It's over..."

It felt like minutes, he was so tired he couldn't tell but he knew it was seconds.

"Wow, that almost hit me. I'm surprised you could make an attack that big with the chakra you had left."

Gai paled. No one could dodge that attack from close range. Even the Raikage wouldnt be able to dodge it without getting hit but his eyes proved him wrong. He looked behind him and saw Naruto in perfect condition with an impressed look. Then it hit him. He looked back at 'Naruto' in the crater, who puffed out of existence as soon as he saw the body.

_'A Shadow Clone...but how?"_

"I actually wanted to see what you were gonna use so around the time you fired that attack I swapped out with one of my shadow clones I hid so you wouldn't see me dodge it. Nice job though, if it hit me I would have been pretty hurt." Naruto's eyes hardened when he looked at the man. "But now, it's over."

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

**\- A Couple Hours Later, With Team Natsu -**

The team arrived. Natsu beat Erigor to unconsciousness and won. They all met and though it was over, until Kageyama appeared and stole their car. Ok, so maybe it was a bad idea to bring Kageyama along but they couldn't just leave him to die! ...And now because he's alive, they might die.

If was night now. Across the hill they could see something that brought fear into their hearts. Kageyama with the flute was next to their master. All he had to do was play it and it would be over.

"Ji-chan!"

"Master!"

They were about to run after their father figure but flew back in fear from, whatever voice that was.

"Shh!"

The three youths screamed in fright at the sight of the person. He looked like an old man with a completely bald head. The man wore a purple spaghetti-strap shirt accessorized by a gold and fuchsia hoop necklace, and a vertical-striped pink and purple shorts. He also completes his look with red lipstick and blush on each cheek. And yes, it was a man.

"We're just getting to the good part. Now watch!" the woman-like man said...they think? "And wow, you all are just so cute! Totally my type!"

The two boys paled._ 'No, no, no, no!' _

Lucy fled to Erza who was watching this with a sweat drop. "Who the heck is this?!" she asked the scarlet-haired woman. The two teens were backing away from the still oncoming man who held his cheeks as if he saw something sweet.

Erza had a sympathetic look on her face as she looked at her two childhood friends, "That's Master Bob."

The two were finally free of his grasp as they leapt into the thick trees. The Master looked over two the two woman and Lucy backed away, hiding behind Erza with a fearful gaze.

"Erza-chan, how've you grown!"

"This is the master of Blue Pegasus?!"

**~0~**

**\- Down With Makarov and Kageyama -**

Makarov was waiting impatiently for the man to play the flute. It's already been a couple minutes now, when will he start?

"What's the matter? Hurry and play it."

Kageyama looked down at the old and short master, then looked down at the flute he held. His lips neared the magical item brought back the fears of the young mages.

"We can't let him!" Erza said, ready to jump in.

"We said, keep quiet and watch. This is the good part." a seemingly middle aged man appeared behind a tree and appeared to be in his late fifties or sixties. He had blond hair that almost reached his shoulders in a straight cut with black sunglasses covering his eyes. He wore a simple set of dark clothes, namely a plain T-shirt and a pair of pants and an unusual type of wizard hat. His hat was in the color of black as well and had rather large spikes in the form of a collar, very similar to the one around his neck.

Ok, now this was way to much of a coincidence, "It's the master of Cuatro Cerberus!"

"Master Goldmine!"

Makarov was more impatient than ever. "Come on my boy, I don't got all the time in the world."

Even with this Kageyama was frozen in fear. He stared at the flute as if it was his worst nightmare. _'If I just...if I just blow, then everything will change...' _Makarov closed his eyes with his head down. He knew what he was thinking.

"Nothing will change." he spoke up.

Kageyama opened his eyes with a gasp. The man lowered the flute form his mouth. _'He knows?' _

"Weak humans will always be weak, no matter how long you wait. But weakness is not always a bad thing. Humans are weak creatures from the start. Uneasy by ourselves, we form guilds. Where we have allies and friends! In order to thrive, we bind together and progress ahead. These awkward combinations might run into more walls than would a single person...And we might take a long time to get where we're going. But as long as we believe in tomorrow and place one foot in front of the other, we will be filled with power from within. Living a strong life means being able to smile. And not relying on something like that flute."

It was almost like the trees around him agreed. The wind blew and caused the leaves to shuffle.

Kageyama dropped the flute and fell to his knees, "I surrender!"

The team started to run to their master with a joyous smile.

"Master!" They all cried out.

"Why are you here?!" Makarov asked them in wonder. Then he got slammed into Erza's metal plates.

"Excelent as always!" Makarov's head smashed into her chest, "Those words were so moving!"

"That's gonna bruise!"

They all started celebrating. That was until they heard an evil laugh fill the area.

**"A bunch of cowardly wizards, every last one of you!" **Everyone paled as they looked over to the dark flute that was flowing a malicious haze from its holes. Happy waved his arms up and down, trying to get their attention.

"Something's coming out!"

A large magical seal appeared over their heads and struck down with purple lightning. The rune knight from the distance looked up at the massive seal in shock and awe.

**"I can't stand it anymore!"** it spoke again, **"I'll devour them myself!"**

_**(Song Insert: Fairy Tail - Deliora's Theme)**_

In a flash of purple light. Massive legs appeared on both sides of the house, out-sizing it in many ways. A wooden body formed in front of them, starting from the legs up until it reach the head. Three eyes, dark as the blackest void had three purple dots as eyes appear in all three eye slots. The creature was big. _REEALLY _big. It's body was like a tree with enormous spaces between the arms and one where it's stomach should be.

**"Your pitiful souls that is!"**

All mages looked at the creature in awe.

"What is that thing!" Kageyama said. He's never seen any creature like it. Nothing can be compared to this, can it?

Bob could only put a hand over his mouth as if he said something embarrassing, "Oh my! How upsetting" he said.

"Why did the flute turn into a monster?"

"That monster IS Lullaby." Goldmine spoke up. This was a serious threat. "In other words, it's **Living Magic**. That's Zeref's magic."

Erza turned to face the old man of Cuatro Cerberus, shocked at the newfound information. "**Living Magic**?"

Now Gray spoke up, "Zeref? Isn't he ancient history?"

Master Bob still held his cheeks with the same creepy smile on his face. Though it horrified them, this wasn't as surprising as the demon that just appeared before their eyes. The Black Wizard Zeref was the most evil wizard in the history of the Magical World! To think that part of his legacy would appear before us after all these centuries!"

The demon moved it's head so that it hovered over the mages with a menacing look, it's smile the scariest of them all.

**"So then,"** They all looked up at the large demon, **"Which one of your souls should I partake first?" **

"Say what?!" He looked like he was ready for a fight, that was until he turned to Gray filled with curiosity. "Are souls even tasty, anyway?"

Gray gained a tick mark from the question. Seriously, of all the times he had to say something like this why now? "How should I know? And don't ask me!"

Lucy sweat dropped, "I figured that was what he'd be wondering about."

Ok, no time to waste. Erza turned to her two childhood friends. She had to be serious. "Natsu, Gray, move away from everyone." she ordered.

"How bossy!"

"Don't order me around!" Gray agreed.

Erza's eyes suddenly sparkled and her glare picked up. They knew this look, and it was the same one that always promised pain. "I'm counting on you."

The two rivals skin turned deathly pale. "Aye, sir!"

_'There goes Happy #2 again.'_ Lucy sighed.

Across the forest, an army of Rune Knights had witnessed the spawn of the demon. This guy was just all bark and no bite. They could beat him!

...Right?

"CHARGE!"

Unfortunatly, Lullaby heard their cry of attack. It turned to face them and moved his head back. **"Back off, small fries!" **With that the demon fired an energy beam towards a mountain, most likely a couple miles away from their location. When the attack hit, the mountain flashed in a beam of white light. An explosion rocked the area, they held their arms over their eyes to block the rays of light. When it cleared, the mountain was no more, only but the base of the mountain stood in its place.

"Captain, the mountain has disappeared!"

The captain paled at the sight. Quickly, he screamed at the top of his lungs to retreat. The sounds of marching got further and further away.

**"I've decided! I am going to eat _all_ of your souls, you pitiful wizards!"**

Natsu shook his fist out at the oversized demon, "OH YEAH?! BRING IT ON BIG GUY!"

In the distance, the masters cheered them on. Even Makarov was left behind with the masters as he witnessed the three mages go up and confront the demon though Lucy was worried for her friends. Sure they were strong but to defeat a demon created by Zeref? Even she knew it was going to be tough.

"Can those three beat Lullaby on their own?" Lucy asked aloud.

Happy appeared next to her with a dark smile, "What about you Lucy?"

The young teenager could only do what she could. She looked away slightly embarrassed, "Actually I can't summon my Celestial Spirits right now..."

"Good excuse."

"DON'T JUDGE ME CAT!"

Lullaby roared as a magic circle appeared over its head, feeling the souls of the humans around it, continuing what it started. Then the most horrific thing it had ever felt broke its concentration. Then the magic circle shattered only a couple seconds after it started.

**_'T-That large amount of power...IT CAN'T BE! HE SHOULD BE FAR AWAY FROM HERE!'_**

Using this opportunity Erza positioned herself in a stance.

"Let's go!"

"Right!"

_**(Song Insert: Fairy Tail - Against Magic)**_

The trio leapt into action. Erza first as floated in front of the demon. Her body glowed into an almost holy light as her armor started switching with one of her well known armors.

"**Kans****ō: Za Naito (Requip: The Knight)!**"

Now in her Heaven's Wheel Armor, she slashed upwards with her sword. The demon roared with pain. Gray was second as he smashed his fist into his open palm. A cold mist formed around him

"**Aisu Meiku: Ransu (Ice Make: Lance)!**"

Multiple lances formed in front of the boy and shot into his enemy and smashed against it. It seethed in pain, crying out into the dark night.

"Now its my turn." Natsu's fist smashed together with flames dancing around his body. "**Karyū no Tekken (Fire Dragon's Iron Fist)!**"

His burning fist smashed into the monster's face. Chips of its skin flew off its body and grunted from the strike. The masters were watching with shock and awe as they saw the wizards. Her comes three young mages that are capable of taking on on of Zeref's creations, and winning. Burns, ice, and cuts were all visible pains on the demons body. It swung at them with anger. He was the great demon Lullaby! These humans can't defeat him! And it was pissing him off.

More attacks were landed on it with various combinations. Their teamwork was excellent and perfect. Their teamwork could scare almost everyone from the way they attacked it.

Natsu leapt back once more and started another one of his attacks.

"How about another one?! **Karyū no Yokugeki (Fire Dragon's Wing Attack)!**"

Needless to say, Kageyama was dumbstruck. "Amazing! I've never seen such combinations before!"

Lucy couldn't help but agree with the Shikamaru lookalike. "They're in perfect sync!" she said with a nod.

"Aye!"

Lullaby moved its head back with a large magic circle appearing above it. Lucy took immediate notice of this. The land was...dying! "I've got a bad feeling about this!"

Happy freaked, "Here it comes!"

Lullaby grinned, **"I'll be dining on your souls!"**

They prepared for the attack. But it never came. Instead of them all dying, a sound that was like the break of wind came from it. They were shocked. Wasn't it supposed to kill them? Not like they wanted to die.

**"What's with this sound?"** it said. **"What happened to my beautiful sound?" **

Then it made sense. "I see! After all of those attack from before..."

Lucy decided to cut in to cut in at what Kageyama was trying to say. "They opened a bunch more holes, so he can't play properly." Lullaby looked like he was going to fall down of shock. The stupid holes in his body messed up his beautiful music! "So after all this build up, this is the punchline?"

"Looks like his stomach was empty." Happy quipped.

Lullaby was infuriated. It glared at the cat for those insulting words.

"You dare mock me!" He kicked where the masters were stationed out of rage, clearly not thinking properly anymore. The masters, mages, and cat ducked for cover. Starting to charge energy, Gray decided to make his move.

"**Aisu Meiku: Shīrudo (Ice Make: Shield)!**"

The large attack struck the area with a large explosion, successfully blocked from a large wall of ice in its way. The masters were amazed. To make something to large in only a few seconds takes great feats. Lucy was the only one who never knew what maker magic was. Heck she hasn't even heard of it!

"**Maker Magic**?"

"Magic that gives form to Magical Power." Happy answered. His gazed darkened with that smile. How did he even do that? "There's also magic that can seal form away."

The demon roared. The attack was blocked by that magic and this just got him even more furious than he already was! Then he saw the flames moving in another direction. The flames flew up into the air behind him and looked in that direction to see the pink-haired teen eating the fire. Yes. Eating it.

The boy swelled with determination as he felt the energy course through his body. He wiped his mouth and looked at the lullaby, "Yosh! Now I'm all fire up!"

Least to say Lullaby was shocked and started a punch full of rage and uncertainty. **"You...you're a friggen' monster!"**

When the punch hit the ground, Natsu was already in the air and landed on his wooded arm, running along the large limb. "Yeah, like you can talk?!" He leapt in the air once more where Erza was flying in the air high above.

"**Kanso! (Requip)!**"

Her armor changed in a literal second from her silvery armor in a new, black one with some silver trimming. Wings came from the back of her armor that could be mistaken for a dragon or a bat. Around her neck was a silver neck guard, decorated with red gems. Her hair was no longer straight down and instead in a ponytail with two bangs framing her face. The armor also had black shoulder pads where you could see the silver trimmings of the powerful armor that were connected to her high collar around her neck. Her breastplate showed a far amour of cleavage along with her belly with more plates on the sides of her hips and reaching down to her very large waistguard, composed of very long, silver-edged plates shaped like feathers, decorated by silver crosses. Basically the whole front of her body was exposed but she also wore black gauntlets for protection for her hands.

All of the masters were googling over her. Come on! She's way to young for those people! To cover Erza, Gray decided to add a little something for a bonus. "**Aisu Meiku: Saucer!**"

A large, circular shape of ice formed in front of him, spinning like a saw blade. It dashed over to the monster and left a massive gash on the demon. It roared in pain as he felt the two slashes, one on the waist by Gray and one across his head by Erza.

"Natsu!"

"Now!"

"Alright!" He smashed his fists together and started an incantation, "With a flaming right hand and flaming left hand...WHEN YOU COMBINE THE FLAMES TOGETHER!" He clapped loudly with a blaze roaring in the wind. His yell was heard throughout the whole area as a large sphere of fire of the size of his body started to increase in size within his hands.

"**Karyū no Kōen (Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame)!**"

He threw it. They couldn't believe their eyes. The boy actually threw the attack. It hit the demon in the face with a bang. The sound was heard throughout the whole forest, the demon's last thing it did was roaring in pain from the attack and disintegrated into nothing. A large beam of light shot to the sky where everyone could see it.

Kageyama was in shock. While all the master were celebrating the defeat of the large demon they encountered, he was only shocked to see the power that Fairy Tail members actually possess. To kill such a demon as that so easily?

"You did it!" Lucy was more than happy. So it turns out that the flute could actually turn into a demon the size of a mountain could actually destroy at least half a mountain with one spell and surprisingly it wasn't as strong as it seemed since it didn't stand a chance against her three friends at all. It couldn't land a single move at all, even with them being so up close.

Natsu puffed up his chest confidently with a large smile. "Nah, it was too easy!"

"Yeah, it was a piece of cake."

"FORGET THE CONFERENCE HALL!"

"Woo! Now those were some awesome fireworks!"

They knew it from anywhere. The Fairy Tail members looked to their right to see Naruto on a tree, simply sitting down. He was just doing nothing really, just... hanging around.

"Naruto?" the Fairy Tail members exclaimed.

He put up a hand with a smile. "Yo."

Makarov couldn't help but wonder, was he sitting there the hold time? He was about to ask before someone else decided to ask him. Lucy pointed at him, "You were sitting there the whole time, weren't you?!"

He jumped down onto the ground with a hand on his hip. "Just enjoying the show." _'Though I was the one who kinda broke Lullaby's spell in the beginning.'_

**"Well since it was a demon performing a spell, you did say that you were going to need my help that time."**

_'Well I could have done it, but it would have took longer to break it.'_

**"Sure, sure."**

_'...Shut up.'_

"NARUTO! FIGHT ME!"

Naruto left his mind and just sidestepped the fist of the young dragon slayer. With one slam of his elbow, Natsu crashed into the ground where a small crater was formed. The body twitched multiple times before the fire in his hand extinguished. Lucy's and the other masters' jaws dropped, Erza and Makarov sighed, and of course Gray, smirked. You could literally see smoke started coming from his mouth. He looked like he was barely hanging on to consciousness as well. Better for the ride home but, Naruto just grinned. Happy just flew to the pink-haired mage and called out his name with worry.

"Natsuuuu!"

Naruto smirked and bent over to the fallen Natsu with his a hand on his hip. "I win."

Everyone sweat dropped.

It was only a few seconds after when Erza started walking up to him. So there were only a couple of things that Naruto was scared of and the second most scariest thing, was Erza when she was angry. He was the only one who could get her calm, but there were some things that he couldn't calm her down from. And one example was now.

Kurama gave a dark chuckle within his mindscape.** "Oh this is going to be amusing. "**

He started to get a fearful look on his face before she stepped right in front of him. Everyone was watching the moment between the two. She thrusted her finger into the middle of his chest with her brown eyes looking into his cerulean blue. "Where were you."

This made him panic a bit more but he hid it. He didn't know what to say but seeing as he was already in trouble he was now, he needed to think of something fast. _'Ya know, I never thought I would be saying this ever once in my life this might be on of the best excuses I have right now.' _

He gave a sheepish laugh with a smile. "I got lost on the road of...life?"

Everyone face faulted, except for Erza. But since Natsu was alread on the ground, he couldn't do anything better.

**"...Damn it Naruto."**

_'Hey! I was panicking, alright!'_

**~0~**

**\- Somewhere in Konohagakure, Location: The Land of Fire -**

A silver-haired man was reading an orange book, but stopped and looked up into the sky. He felt two things. He felt both proud, but insulted. He knew one thing though...

A student of his had finally used his excuse.

**~0~**

Erza just didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it right after. She huffed and turned away with crossed arms. "Fine."

Now everyone was dumbfounded. No one had that high luck, not even Makarov, who was her own guild master could get her to stop so easily from her anger. Lucy was the most shocked as to see that he jaw hit the ground.

Naruto just went with it. He didn't want to get on her bad side again.

But before he could even say anything he was soon surrounded by the guild masters asking questions. He was one of the most famous members there but seriously he didn't have to be swarmed every single time he was in public! But then there was a familiar voice came from behind him.

"So Fairy Tail's Maelstrom finally makes his appearance once again. It's been a while, Naruto."

Naruto knew that voice from anywhere. He turned to the man with a smile, "Hey Goldmine! How's the guild been treating ya?"

The man known as Goldmine chuckled, "It's been well, thanks. The guild repairs have finished thanks to your clones. It's impressive that you have that magic, it's quite rare for clones to actually be completely solid."

Lucy blinked once.

Twice.

"Hold on a second! Did you just say that Naruto-san can make clones?"

The two men looked at the blonde and nodded. She didn't know that! She regained her composure and folded her arms under her bust. "Then why didn't you make one to come with us when we went to face Erigor? We could have used your help then, especially when Natsu went after him, ALONE."

The other blond blinked and chucked nervously. Naruto scratched the back of his head, something he didn't forget from his ninja days. "You know, I never thought about that."

It was now the second time today. Yeah Natsu still beat him but he still could have lost or even died. You can never be too careful with a killer, or you may just end up dead. Even if he didn't send one, he knew Natsu could handle it.

"Oh Naruto-kun~!" a manly voice sang.

That manly voice... Naruto paled. _'Oh, dear kami no.'_

His head turned as if it was a machine. His blue eyes were like dots. The bald head. The same smile. The look. That evil look. Oh it was just this guy of course. He was only looking at the one thing who he feared most.

Bob of Blue Pegasus, the Guild Master.

Not a moment to lose. He made four Kage Bunshin. Ok so he might be over reacting but he was scared of this man, but the clones were in question when they puffed into existence. That was until they saw _that_ man. Now it was their turn to start freaking out and yeah, they knew what to do.

Each grabbed all the members of Fairy Tail's hands and ran, each of them screaming. Naruto of course stays for an explanation, one that wasn't even good.

"Sorry, but we gotta get back to the guild! Bye!"

With that he followed his clones.

Master Bob only pouted. "Aw, and here I thought I could talk to that cutie."

Goldmine only went over to pat his shoulder. He sweat dropped at what happened but he faked a smile. "Next time. Maybe next time." _'If there will even be a next time...'_

_**(Chapter End)**_

* * *

**(A/N: Phew, the chapter is done! Thank goodness I can move on with the next chapter. I hated thinking about working on this thing for only taking so long to be able to actually FINISH WRITING IT. **

**Anyways, I hope the story was good. Now I can work on the other chapters thank goodness. To be honest, I actually was confused what to write in this. I had so many ideas in my mind I didn't know what to think. I had at least 10 ideas in my mind but I narrowed it down to make it good. **

**1.) What happened to Naruto with Bob? **

**A: History. It will be explained in a later chapter.**

**2.) How was Naruto so strong?**

**A: It will be explained in a later chapter.**

**3.) How was it that Gai's Hirudora was able to shake the earth for miles?**

**A: If you've seen the anime, then you know why. Naruto Shippuden Episode 362 proves that in his fight as well as his fight with Kisame. HE MADE A CRATER IN THE OCEAN! The only thing is that people can only achieve this jutsu when they are able to open the Seventh Gate so it is not really overpowered either. It just takes a lot of skill and training.**

**4.) What did Lullaby mean by "He should be far away" in the fight with Fairy Tail?**

**A: He meant by Kurama. Kurama is supposed to be in the Elemental Nations but instead, was in the Magical Countries, something that scares him immensely. While Lullaby can destroy mountains from the top to the base of the mountain with a blast, Kurama could destroy a WHOLE mountain with one move of one of his tails without even trying. **

**Also here are the stats of the current characters in the story. The other's will show later on but to make sure we are clear, Mages and Ninja will have DIFFERENT STATS! You will see when it it shown. If it seems off let me know. This is just what I see.**

**(1 - 5 for Ninja) (1 - 10 for Mages) **

**1-9= Academy Ninja / Mage-In-Training**

**10-15= Genin Level/ D or C-Class Mage**

**16-25= Chūnin Level/ B-Class Mage**

**26-30= Jōnin Level/ Low or Mid. A-Class Mage**

**31-39= Kage Level/ High A or Low S-Class Mage [31-33= Low-Kage Level/Mid-Kage Level (Low S/ S-Class Ninja), 34-36= High-Kage Level (S+ Class Ninja), 37-39= Higher Class Kage (SS-Class Ninja)]**

**39.5-40= Hashirama &amp; Madara's Level (SSS-Class Ninja)/SS-Class Mage**

**Just because Hashirama &amp; Madara's Level are 39.5-40 doesn't mean that the other people are just as strong. Hashirama or Madara by themselves could fight the current Five Kages and win so the people in those ranks are out of everyone's league. Even Hashirama said that when he was in Edo Tensei he was only a little stronger than Hashirama cause of his little "Boost". Their power will be written below as well just to let you know. **

_**~ Fairy Tail ~**_

_Uzumaki Naruto (Ex-Ninja)_**  
**

**Ninjutsu: ?**

**Taijutsu: ?**

**Genjutsu: ?**

**Intelligence: ?**

**Strength: ?**

**Speed: ?**

**Stamina: ?**

**Handseals: ?**

_Total: ?_

_Erza Scarlet (Mage):_

**Attack Power: 8/10**

**Intelligence: 8/10**

**Speed: 8/10**

**Stamina: 8/10**

_Total: 33_

_Makarov Dreyar (Mage):_

**Magic Level (Power): 10/10**

**Intelligence: 9/10**

**Speed: 8/10**

**Stamina: 9/10**

_Total: 36_

_Natsu Dragneel (Mage):_

**Magic Level (Power): 6/10**

**Intelligence: 5/10**

**Speed: 7/10**

**Stamina: 9/10**

_Total: 28_

_Gray Fullbuster (Mage):_

**Magic Level (Power): 6/10**

**Intelligence: 8/10**

**Speed: 6/10**

**Stamina: 8/10**

_Total: 28_

_Lucy Heartfilia (Mage):_

**Magic Level (Power): 7/10**

**Intelligence: 6/10**

**Speed: 5/10**

**Stamina: 5/10**

_Total: 24_

_**~ Ninja ~**_

_Maito Gai (Might Guy):_

**Ninjutsu: 3**

**Taijutsu: 5**

**Genjutsu: 3**

**Intelligence: 3**

**Strength: 5**

**Speed: 5**

**Stamina: 5**

**Hand Seals: 2.5**

_Total: 31.5_

_Rock Lee:_

**Ninjutsu: 0.5**

**Taijutsu: 5**

**Genjutsu: 1**

**Intelligence: 4**

**Strength: 5**

**Speed: 5**

**Stamina: 5**

**Hand Seals: 1**

_Total: 26.5_

_Hy_ū_ga Neji:_

**Ninjutsu: 4**

**Taijutsu: 4.5**

**Genjutsu: 2**

**Intelligence: 3**

**Strength: 2.5**

**Speed: 4.5**

**Stamina: 3.5**

**Hand Seals: 3**

_Total: 27_

_Tenten:_

**Ninjutsu: 4**

**Taijutsu: 4**

**Genjutsu: 2.5**

**Intelligence: 3.5**

**Strength: 2**

**Speed: 3.5**

**Stamina: 3**

**Hand Seals: 3**

_Total: 22.5_

**I bet some of you are wondering ****"Hey! Why is it that we see everyone else's stats while we don't see Naruto's? Why can't we see it?"**

**The reason for that is because it will be shown in a later chapter when it is needed in a much more important scene. I know I am kinda being a bit secretive but it's needed and yes, this scene is important but there is another chapter I will show you guys that isn't all that too far. I will also show a lot of Naruto's past in Fiore in a lot of future chapters and stuff.**

**Well thats all guys! Till next time!  
**

**~LGM)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Meetings and Missions

**(A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with Chapter 5 and I'll say this in a deep voice, "Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom". ****This when I'm supposed to a "nice guy" pose and show my shining white teeth. Now you can call me the second coming of Gai. Haha!**

**And wow! So many reviews! It makes me happy to know that people like the story so far. Well, I guess it's time for the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.)**

"Naruto" - Regular Speech

'_Naruto'_ \- Regular Thoughts/Sarcastic or Over-expressive Remark

_"Naruto"_\- _Flashbacks_

"**Naruto" - **Dragon/Demon/Monster Summoning Spirit's Speech/Name of a Justu/Names of Spells

_'_**_Naruto'_ \- **Dragon/Demon/Monster/Summoning Spirit's Thoughts

_**(Naruto)**_ \- Song Insert/Chapter Begin or End

**\- Naruto -** \- Stating a place or time

_**Summary: I did what I was told but again I was treated as an outcast. I followed orders, and I was banished for it. Sometimes I wondered why did they treat me like that when I was doing what they asked. Betrayed, I left, to another land and found people who I can call my Nakama. Eight years later, it was then when people from my past decides its time for me to go home. Thing is…I am home.**_

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

_**(Previous Chapter)**_

"Oh Naruto-kun~!" a manly voice sang.

That manly voice... Naruto paled. _'Oh, dear kami no.'_

His head turned as if it was a machine. His blue eyes were like dots. The bald head. The same smile. The look. That evil look. Oh it was just this guy of course. He was only looking at the one thing who he feared most.

Bob of Blue Pegasus, the Guild Master.

Not a moment to lose. He made four Kage Bunshin. Ok so he might be over reacting but he was scared of this man, but the clones were in question when they puffed into existence. That was until they saw _that_ man. Now it was their turn to start freaking out and yeah, they knew what to do.

Each grabbed all the members of Fairy Tail's hands and ran, each of them screaming. Naruto of course stays for an explanation, one that wasn't even good.

"Sorry, but we gotta get back to the guild! Bye!"

With that he followed his clones.

Master Bob only pouted. "Aw, and here I thought I could talk to that cutie."

Goldmine only went over to pat his shoulder. He sweat dropped at what happened but he faked a smile. "Next time. Maybe next time." _'If there will even be a next time...'_

* * *

_**(Chapter Begin)**_

**\- A Few Days After, Location: The Magic Council, Era -**

"Eisenwald may have been destroyed, but the root of the problem still remains unsolved."

"The number of dark guilds rivals that of the stars themselves."

"Then we should come up with a plan to wipe them all out at once."

The member looked at the others surrounding him with curiosity. "But, how?"

Org was a tall, gray-haired elderly man with a very long beard and a like his beard, a long mustache. He has pointy ears and wears multiple layers of robes. For some reason he has a habit of only opening on eye, switching them back and forth to show his dark eyes. On top of his head is a small ornament in the shape of a bat. In his hand was a glass case will a label on it, most likely a rune to prevent it from opening without a certain code, containing the dark flute, Lullaby and boy he was not happy. "I will not stand for Zeref's magic to fall into their hands again!"

Yajima spoke with a slight hint of anger, but also one with worry. "And how was it that they obtained such magic so easily in the first place?"

"Blame goes all the way up to the administrative level." The member who said this looked down to the floor. He was, like a couple of the members, short, yet old man with flat brown hair that go in three different directions in a spike. One to the left, one to the right, and one straight forward. One thing that was different was his light-yellow tail that came out from his backside, much like a cat and had a mustache that could be mistaken for a bow tie. He had a shirt that resembled the skin of a tiger, but in a different color. It was blue instead of orange that still kept the same black stripes.

"At any rate..." All members looked up and at the youngest member of the council, Siegrain. His arms were crossed as well with his head looking at the floor with closed eyes with his usual smirk. "We were saved yet again by Fairy Tail once again like many times, most performed by Naruto, even if they are quite the annoying bunch."

Ultear had a smile when she looked at the other council members. "They destroyed a whole dark guild with only a handful of mages. I consider than impressive."

The council started mumbling among themselves, mostly about how they still didn't like them but stopped as Siegrain started to speak once more and once again looked at him. "I know it's something you don't want to accept, but it's true. Also, none of use had to leave our positions in the council to save face."

"Fool! You intent to lay blame even on the council itself?"

"ENOUGH!" Org's yell was enough to stop the bickering as it became silent. "Their good deeds are only a cover for all of the destruction they have done, especially by Uzumaki! He's probably the one responsible for the damages in the forest nearby AND at Oshibana! It gives me a headache!"

Siegrain gained a mischievous smile after those words... "Yes...let us repay for their kindness, shall we?"

**~0~**

**\- Location: Magnolia, Lucy's House -**

* * *

**~0~**

_"The incident with Eisenwald targeting the guild masters during their regular meeting became big news immediately and everyone in the country learned of it. I would have never believed I'd be at the center of such a huge event. Even so, I'm living my day to day just like I always do. Sometimes I think back on what happened and get all excited, though. I got wind that most of Eisenwald's members were arrested, including that guy named Kage. Well, I guess that's expected. _

_The one thing that scares me is they don't seem to have caught Erigor. What'll I do if he decides to take revenge on Fairy Tail? But I'll be ok! Naruto, Erza, Gray and Natsu are Fairy Tail's strongest team! _

_Plus: Happy and I are there too!"_

_This guild's the best, so don't worry, Mom. I'm doing just fine._

_P.S._

_Keep this a secret from Dad, 'kay?_

**~0~**

* * *

Lucy put down the pen and put the letter in an envelope with a sigh. It's been a while since she did that, but she's been pretty stressed.

"Maybe I'll do some shopping later. Thrilling adventures are great and all but you can't beat relaxing at home!" she said through a yawn. What she didn't see was that she wasn't alone.

"You know for house like this, it's not bad."

Since when was there someone in her house? She turned her head over to the spoken voice that made her eyes bulge out of her head. There stood Naruto against the wall with crossed arms, one leg against the wall as well.

"Rent for this place is 70,000 jewel? That's really cheap. She blinked once more and turned behind her with her brown eyes, once again shocked at what she saw. There sat Gray in all his glory, only in his boxers. "You found yourself a nice pad, Lucy!"

_'Trespassing!'_

With one swift move, she roundhouse kicked Gray out of her chair, making him fall to the floor. "No stripping in my house buddy!"

Naruto started laughing at the she could continue on with her attack he stood with his arm out to stop her. "Wait! It's a misunderstanding! And why didn't you hit Naruto first, he got here before I did!" Then he turned around with his hands on his hips with her, waiting for an answer. "I was already naked when I arrived."

"Lea-" Wait, what did he say? "...Eh?"

Gray looked over his shoulder. His face showed that he looked bored but that was always what he did to keep a cool attitude. "Yeah, when I arrived he was already here, but I don't know for how long."

She turned to the blond who had a smile on his face and had one of her own. She was both angry and curious when she heard that. First thing was how did he even get in and second, when did he get in.

"How, and when."

He answered it with a calm attitude and a grin, same way as always. "I got here a couple minutes ago through your window when you started writing, whatever it was you were doing." With his finger he pointed at it and started making a circle with it, almost like it was

She started sputtering words. She didn't even hear him even make a single sound or anything! For a guy that can be so destructive, he can be quiet when it comes to sneaking around. "Today's the day, remember? I figured you'd forget, so I came to get you but it seemed Naruto had the same idea."

"Huh?"

Yeah he knew something like this was going to happen. Gray turned to look at her once more, "Yup, you forgot. Natsu said so before we left, right? Natsu and Erza are fighting today."

Before she could answer, Naruto started to stretch with his arms spread wide. Ok After a second of this, he waved his hand and smiled. "Well, I'll see you there!" In a puff of smoke he was gone, just like the way he always did it.

Lucy still can't figure it out. She looked over to Gray and pointed in the spot where the blond used to be. "How does he do that?!"

Gray sighed and shrugged. "Even after all the years I've known him I still can't figure out how he does that. He turned away with his hands in his pockets, somehow now with his pants on, just like how the sudden performance he always does when he takes it off. "Anyways, let's get going before it starts."

**~0~**

After a couple minutes of hard and nonstop running, the two teens arrived at the guild. She pushed Wakaba away who for some reason had a blush on his face, and started moving towards the middle with shock shown on her face. "W-Wait, they were serious?!"

Mira was happy to see another fight like this happening. It's been quite dull with one-on-one fights since most of the people who usually did it were gone on missions, or they were just too busy. But when she heard this voice she turned to Lucy with a smile. "Oh, hi Lucy!"

Elfman smirked, "Serious as can be! If they didn't take this seriously, they couldn't call themselves men!"

Mira deadpanned. Always with people being men. "Erza's a woman you know."

"But if two of the strongest members of the team clash..."

Gray knew many things. He knows that he should annoy Natsu anytime when he found the time right, he knew to be afraid of Erza, and he knew, oh yes, HE KNEW to be afraid of Naruto when he got annoyed. Last time he did that was when he was a kid and he didn't know what happened right after he picked a fight with him not long after he joined the guild. But this... "Strongest team? What're you talking about?"

She looked at him as if it were an obvious thing. "You, Naruto, Erza, and Natsu of course!"

He turned back to the fight with a smirk, "Oh yeah? That's just dumb. Who told you that?"

It was only seconds before the white-haired beauty started to cry with her hands on her face. "Oh! It was Mira-chan..."

In a puff of smoke, Naruto appeared next to Gray surprising Lucy. "Way to go Gray, you just made Mira cry."

Gray waved his hands in the air and started sweating violently. He didn't want to get hurt. "Hey, I didn't know!"

"I do recognize Natsu and Gray's manly spirit. But I wouldn't go calling them the strongest." The two teens looked over to the brother of Mira. "There's a ton more strong people in Fairy Tail, Naruto's an example." He gave a thumbs up and pointed it at himself. "And this guy!"

Naruto just sweat dropped. Seriously, Elfman was like a Fairy Tail version of Lee, except he was more about manliness than youth. Even if he didn't like the village anymore, doesn't mean that he can't remember things about his past...even if he did just beat Team Gai down just a few days ago when they tried forcing him to go back.

A blue, short-haired girl was next to the five people smiled. She was rather petite and looked more young than a teenage girl. She had a slender build who and was quite short for her age, being at the age of 17. Her hair was down to her shoulder, tied up with a colorful bandana around her head. It was styled in a wavy, wild look, with more locks hanging down the sides of her face. She wore a blue tank top with a silver neckless. You could see a white Fairy Tail guild mark around her scapula. Behind her stood her other two teammates of Team Shadow Gear.

Jet was a slim young man with average height who wore a brown coat with yellowish fur trimmings on its edges and sleeves, ones that reached down below his elbows. Underneath that, he wore a high-collared purple shirt with most of it open and baggy black pants with a silver buckled belt.

Droy too was also rather slim, around the same age of Jet. He had jet-black hair that was kept in unusual, yet distinctive hairstyle, with a tuft of hair on top of his head moving upwards and then curving frontwards, much like some fishing hooks he's seen multiple times. It was quite weird for Naruto's opinion but, whatever. He also had a long white shirt with what it seemed to be two yellow buckles coming from each shoulder to each one of his hips. His pants were a dark green with black squares allover.

"Erza _is _probably the strongest woman, though." Levi said with a smile.

Jet kept a rather serious face when he spoke. "If you're talking about the strongest man, I'd put my money on Naruto. Even if it has been a couple years since he actually got into a fight, last time he did he beat everyone in the guild hall, not including the master. Aside from the Master, I don't think anyone else around here have actually seen Naruto go full power.

Lucy looked at Naruto, who was watching Erza and Natsu with a smile with the look of awe on her face, _'Is Naruto really that strong?'_

She stopped looking at him when she heard Mira was still crying over those words Gray said. The white-haired beauty started wiping her tears where you could see small trails of her tears on her face. "I just thought that Natsu, Gray, Naruto, and Erza worked the best together!"

Naruto just sweat dropped._  
_

Elfman folded his large arms over each other as he still kept his smirk. "Regardless, I think this will be an interesting battle."

"Really?" Gray spoke up, "I expect Erza to win easily."

Naruto had many opinions on this fight. Sure Natsu was pretty good but Erza was really good as well, even if he had a lot to learn. When it came to almost every subject, Natsu was very impatient. He always rushed ahead of himself in battle and he always doesn't think everything through before he does something. But he was powerful. He had the determination and will that could scare probably almost everyone. He can manipulate fire pretty well, enough to give a challenge to many other. He knew of course that Natsu could be S-Class material soon, probably during the next trials he would be picked.

Erza was yes, powerful. She could probably take on Tsunade and give a pretty good match up but he knew she would win, but if she used her **Sōzō Saisei (Creation Rebirth)**, then he didn't know. At any moment, she could **Re-quip **any time she wanted in the matter of only a couple of seconds.

Over with Erza and Natsu, the scarlet-haired knight smiled at the pink-haired teen. "How many years has it been since we've fought head to head like this?" She's lost count. Being on that mission so long took quite a lot of time before she finished it. Then if she was at the guild, Naruto or Natsu would be out on a mission.

Natsu was serious. "I was just a kid then. Because this time..." He put his arms to the side and kept his determined look on his face, "I'm going to win!"

She closed her eyes and her smile faded, "Well I don't plan on holding back. In fact..." Her body started to radiate a golden light once more as it usually does, "It's been a while since I truly tested my own limits!"

Her body glowed brightly for a second before it changed. Luckily Naruto looked away this time, though he still held a small blush on his face when he did. He didn't want it to happen like last time during their mission. When he looked back, a lot of things were different, most definitely her armor. Her hair was in long pigtails with two bangs covering the frames of her face. Her armor consisted of various colors, ones with dark red, orange, and black, with the orange parts being shaped like flames and the other parts more like a Dragon. Her breastplate did not have pauldrons so her shoulders were revealed. The revealing parts of her legs looked like a one piece swimming suit with an orange part covering her breasts and another one circling her waist like a belt. The black parts on it are like an under skin, mostly showable around her stomach, under gloves, and long socks. He gauntlets were long and thick with the greaves shaped like Dragon's claws and had orange knee guards. The breastplate possesses a pair of Dragon-like wings attached to it like her **Tenrin no Yoroi (Heaven's Wheel Armor)**.

"So its the **Entei no Yoroi (Flame Empress Armor)**." said Macao, "This armor prevents fire so it will definitely be harder for Natsu to beat her."

"Well it does cut his attacks in half." a woman beside him spoke. She had long lavender hair, one that had, a guess in color from what he saw, a dark red ribbon on the top of her head and had a snow white jacket.

Happy, who was watching this as if it was the fight was his enemy. After a moment of thinking, he knew what was best...

"Yeah, I've decided. I'll be betting on Erza winning."

Naruto laughed loudly at the moment. Oh this was good, seeing Natsu's partner bet against him. This cat was too much!

While Naruto was amused, Lucy was shocked. How could he do this to his own teammate! "What a heartless cat!" She started waving her arms wildly, "I don't like this sort of thing! I don't want either of them to lose!"

Gray gave of a frustrating sigh. "You're unexpectedly innocent, aren't you?"

Natsu smirked. "**Entei no Yoroi (Flame Empress Armor)**, eh? In that case..." Fire bursted around him as his fists engulfed with flames, "I guess I have to go full power, no holding back!"

..."Hajime!"

_**(Song Instert: Fairy Tail - Invoke Magic)**_

Natsu charged Erza immediately. With his fist held back, he swung down, only for her to block it with he blade. She swung an arc straight across where trails of flames were seen. Natsu saw this and ducked quickly and went for a strike to her head with a kick. Using her gauntlets, she blocked as the both continued to exchange blows.

He leapt back and breathed in and out when she pursued. A large fire, almost like a flame-thrower for a mouth, blew out. In midair, she dodged with her wings, almost too close for comfort when he caused the fire to come near their feet. This fight was amazing.

"Wow!"

"See? I told you it would be a good battle." the tall brother, ahem, _man_, told Lucy. Gray thought otherwise.

"And what's so great about it?"

Naruto, who was watching the fight with happiness. The battle was needless to say awesome. Their attacks were done eel and Natsu he had to say was impressed. But it all stopped when he suddenly felt the presence, of a gecko. Sure that sounded stupid, but hey, the only geckos that were around we usually ones that worked in the council. So of course, he narrowed it down to that.

Erza and Natsu continued fighting as she brought he sword back and charged. Natsu had the same idea and leapt upwards to meet her blade with a fiery fist, only to be stopped when they heard something that sounded like a gong.

_**(Stop Music: Fairy Tail - Invoke Magic)**_

All the mages stopped and looked over at the interrupting sound. The cause of the sound was a creature that looked like large, talking frog with casual council robes and a leather satchel.

"That's enough." the frog-like creature said. It stopped walking when it stepped in front of Erza with a straight look. "Everyone stay where you are. I am a messenger of the Council."

This stopped everyone in their tracks. Levi peered over to the messenger, surprised. "The Council?"

"Messenger?"

"Why did they send one here?"

Lucy, though was shocked, couldn't help but say this aloud. "Am I the only who didn't notice that she's a frog?!"

The frog took out a letter and showed it to Erza, who stopped looking at them and looked at it seriously. "Stemming from the recent Eisenwald incident..." it started out, "We hereby charge you with 11 counts of criminal proper damage.

"Erza Scarlet, you are under arrest!"

"...Say what?!"

All the Fairy Tail members started yelling when they heard those words. Naruto knew though. It was just another act to get them to show their "power". They had to show who's boss in other words. Personally, he actually wanted to go up to them and just hit Org as they usually had arguments over things, but since they did a lot for him since he arrived, even he couldn't deny that as annoying they were from times, he couldn't say that he hated them. But he did hope that they would stop acting like people with pride with looks on their face that read, "Bow down down to me or suffer the consequences." Seriously, it was almost like they were like... never mind.

"We also call Uzumaki Naruto, to come to the Council for question for a private discussion. The Council wishes to speak to you."

Now this was outrageous. First Erza, now Naruto? But what do they need them for? Of course, Naruto walked forward. There was no yes or no answer to the council. It's either you do it now or you will be punished.

"Ok. I'll talk to them."

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

The guild was different when they left. Silent to put it simply. It was almost as if it was empty, even with all these people here. They all saw them walk away, but what scared them was what are they going to do. But what happened to Naruto...that scared everyone. When they were about to put on the cuffs, they all shivered. His eyes were full of anger and stopped the frog, saying that if he did that, then he might as well just throw him into a building. The frog was scared that was for sure and they saw him put it away. Everyone was just shocked then. He basically threatened a member of the Council but he didn't care. He just didn't want her to be treated the same way he was. Makarov though... he knew what happened to him. He knew about everything, his past, his pain, everything.

...Even about him being a jinchūriki.

He was one of few who knew really. Yeah, he told him about a couple months later after he joined. He felt sorrow for the boy back then and still does. He lived not knowing his parents, treated like a demon, no proper education, and basically ignored for most of his life. He was surprised that he didn't consider betraying them or anything worse than that. Even he himself probably couldn't due that.

There was silence besides the rolling of a bottle on a table across the room by a member with a frown. Mirajane's almost constant smile was gone and was replaced with a frown. She didn't know what was going to happen to them. She only wished that it would be over soon and the two would be back along with the guild's happy faces as they always did.

"This isn't fair you guys, let me out of here already!"

Mira turned to the voice of Natsu. When they left, he ran after them angry and started chasing after them causing a chase after him. A couple minutes later since the departure of the son of Igneel, Macao's son, Romeo, brought him back as a gecko from the forest where he ran and put him in a cup. "You'll just go out on a rampage." she said.

He denied it of course and stopped banging on the glass for that moment. "No, I won't! Just let me out!"

"It's the Council we're dealing with here. This one is out of our hands." Gray told the transformed Natsu. Even he hated the idea, but they couldn't do anything. If they wanted to, the Council could disband Fairy Tail if they wanted to, but it would be bad for them since they didn't do anything against criminal law. They're just looking for someone to blame.

Natsu shook his fist. "Let me out! I have something to say! Council or no, but those guys were the bad ones!"

He looked away, "If you're innocent and the Council says you're guilty, then you're guilty. You seriously think they'd listen to us?"

Elfman, who was listening to the conversation sighed. He sat down and put a hand to his face and leaned down on it. "I just don't get it. We've done all those things before and Naruto has done it much more for years. So why now?"

A purple haired-teen with glasses nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's hard to understand."

Lucy lay down on the table and put her head on her arms. "There's got to be...there has to be be something behind it! They wouldn't do this for no reason, especially now!"

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

**\- With Naruto and Erza, Location: Magic Council's Fiore Branch -**

The Magic Council's Fiore Branch. It was a rather interesting building since it had multiple objects, floating above them. Yes. Floating. The location to this building was unknown to public unless invited. Only members of the Council and those who were invited knew, but Naruto knew as well, much to their annoyance. The exterior was a large, hexagonal or octagonal building composed of bricks, colored glass, and different varieties of metals. He hated to say it, but this was where they're gonna get passed judgment. But this guy had to come...

As they walked down the hall, Naruto couldn't help but feel annoyed. Oh he knew who was here as well as Erza. They both stopped next to each other as soon as they saw him. The messenger stopped a bit after but while he and Erza were shocked to see who it was, Naruto was angry, but he hid it well. The man who they saw was no other than Siegrain who was leaning against the wall with an smirk. The frog bowed down while the Naruto and Erza looked at him with a serious look.

"Long time no see, Erza, Naruto." She was put on guard immediately, almost as if he was going to attack. Even Naruto knew he was someone not to mess with. His authority over them was quite annoying but he didn't care. His eye focused. "No need to be on guard. This is just a Though Projection. My body right now is in Era as well as the other members in the other room."

"Except that you are better at the skill than the other since you can still physically interact with others. Am I correct?"

Siegrain looked at Naruto after hearing those words. He is definitely a smart man and can for sure know what is what when he thinks. That is one of the reasons why they are usually . "How highly perceptive of you. I'm impressed. But as it may be..." He looked at the doors that connect the next room. "It's not like they'd actually come all the way here for such a trivial matter."

"I see." Erza spoke up, "So it was you who planned this, isn't it."

Looking back at Erza, he started walking to her until he passed her. "Oh don't be so harsh. After all, I am on your side. The old men were afraid that they would share in the blame, so they decided to create a plan to push the responsibility to others."

"Scapegoating." Naruto kept calm. Oh how hard this was. He just wanted to go over there an punch that guy so hard.

Siegrain turned to them, "Yes, if that as well you wish to call it."

She turned to him with a growl, "That's enough!"

"As you wish." he said, but started to talk once more, "I wanted to see you before the trial and warn you." He placed a hand on her chin with the same smirk placed on his face, "Say nothing of the past to the old man." he whispered.

Ok. For himself, it was bad enough to see Siegrain since they also had a past, but now. Oh, he just crossed into the red zone. He reached out and grabbed his hand menacingly, surprising the other two members of the conversation. His gaze was hard when he looked into his eyes and said four simple words. "Do. Not Touch. Her."

"Naruto..."

Though she was glad for him interfering with her conversation with Jelllal, she was also worried for him. If he attacked a member of the Council, he would get in serious trouble.

Both eyes of blue and brown met as both stared at each other. They were quiet for what it seemed a minute before he regained his smirk. "Very well." It took a few second before Naruto let go of his hand and he let go of her chin and walked over to where he stood before. "Though I hope you don't forget, Naruto." he said once more. He looked over his shoulder to see Naruto, "I just hope your past doesn't affect us. We have had quite a peaceful living and I would rather keep it this way."

Erza's eyes widened at what she heard. What did he mean by his past, and what does this have to do with them? For years, he never told anyone of his past as far as she knew, but she could be wrong. She was pretty sure he told the master probably around the time he joined or something like that. She looked at her friend who's gaze remained passive._  
_

Naruto watched Siegtain turn away before looking at them with a fake smile. "See you on the other side."

Naruto looked at where he suddenly vanished. He clenched his fists as they turned a bit white around the knuckles, _'I really don't like that guy...'_

Kurama snarled. **"He is one man out of few who I despise the most. Aside from Madara, he might be a close third place for my list."**

The messenger, who was still on the ground, looked up at the two mages and started speak. "You know some very powerful people, don't you?"

Erza simply looked in the area where he disappeared as Naruto did the same. He was someone they could never trust once in their lives. Kurama could sense negative emotions, something that Naruto could feel a bit when in his tailed forms, only when he could control them at least. He could start feeling it around the 7th Tail but that was it.

"He's evil." is what she said. And the gecko just relied with a stale word.

"...Gecko?"

**~0~**

After a couple minutes of the unexpected meeting, the sound of a gavel echoed loudly from one side of the room to the other. From what Naruto could see, all members of the council were there. Yes. Including Siegrain. They all sat on chairs on one side with Naruto and Erza directly in the middle. " We will now commence this Wizard's trial." another gecko said. "The accused, Erza Scarlet! Take the stand!

Naruto only hoped this wouldn't take long, cause he wanted to go home and have some ramen as soon as he could.

**~0~**

**\- Currently at Fairy Tail -**

You know, this was too silent. It's almost as if someone died. So yeah, it has been a long time since they left. But seriously, this was nerve wracking! Lucy stood up and slammed her hands on the table, "I can't just stay here! Let's go testify on their behalf!" she declared.

Nab looked at her sadly, "Lucy..."

Makarov was sitting down on the bar when he heard this. Even though his eyes were closed, she knew he was talking to her. "We are not going anywhere." he said.

"What are you talking about! We all know that Erza is innocent and we can't just sit here and let them lock her away! Even Naruto might get locked away for whatever reason they have to talk to him about!"

Makarov was in the same position, but he knew what was right. No matter how hard it was for him. "Even if we leave now, it wouldn't matter how fast we go we wouldn't make it in time."

"But-"

"Let me out!" Natsu was still stuck in there. You've gotta feel bad for the guy. "I said, let me out!"

Makarov rose a brow, "Oh? You sure you want out?"

This stopped the teen as he stood silent for a moment and started to scratch his cheek. "Yes..."

Yeah, there was something wrong with Natsu. Lucy, Gray, and Elfman knew he wouldn't stop. He wasn't like that at all and would usually keep on complaining until he got what he wanted. He smirked as his eyes peered to the right to see the gecko now silent. "What's the matter, Natsu? You suddenly run out of steam."

No answer.

What really surprised them was seeing Makarov thrust his palm out to the cup with a blast of light and hit the cup with a crash with a large plume of smoke. When it cleared, they didn't see Natsu, but instead, it was Macao.

"Macao?!" Levi exclaimed. Her teammates followed her example when they saw this. It was actually Macao?!

"But, why?!" Lucy and Elfman were shocked. To go on like this for so long had to take a lot of patience but his acting fooled them.

Macao scratched the back of his head with a very sheepish grin and a small blush from embarrassment. "Yeah, sorry. But I owed Natsu one. I transformed myself as a gecko to trick you guys."

"So, where is the real Natsu?" Lucy asked the purple-haired man.

Gray walked up to him with a glint of nervousness on his face. If he did what he though he did... "He didn't go after Erza and Naruto, did he?"

Macao released a nervous chuckle at that one. "Yeah, most likely."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Elfman yelled. "Natsu might actually try and punch a council member!"

Makarov had enough of this. "Be quiet all of you!" He caught everyone's attention as they all turned their heads to him, quietly. "We have no choice but to wait and see what happens next."

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

**\- Back at the Council Meeting -**

"Erza Scarlet." a man of the highest chair in the shadow spoke, "In regards to the recent incident with the dark guild Eisenwald and the lullaby, you will answer to the questions of the following charges for the damages of Oshibana Station, one for the destruction of the railway bridge and the other for the complete destruction of the Clover Meeting Hall. These are the acts you have been accused of. And for the witnesses of the event, it was said to be an armored female wizard!"

Before anything else could be said, the wall behind the two people exploded. Ok, this was unexpected, even for Naruto. He was so focused on the task in front of him, he didn't pay attention to the energy he felt coming near them. All the council members looked at the large hole in shock. From the hole was... Natsu and Happy with Natsu dressed as Naruto and... were those his clothes?

Happy was wearing metal plates, from what he saw, trying to imitate Erza since he had a red wig over his head with him flying in the air.

"I AM NARUTO!"

"ROAR, AND I'M THE ARMORED FEMALE WIZARD!"

'Naruto', moved over to Happy with a whisper. "Psst. Happy, it's supposed to be 'Grr' not "Roar'."

"Sorry Nat-I mean, Naruto. I'll try again." he whispered back.

Ok. This was one of the most stupidest moments Naruto has ever seen in his life. First off, you don't whisper so loud that everyone can hear you and second, he does NOT, and with another repeat of words, DOES NOT, have pink highlights in his hair!

"TRY AND CATCH ME!" Natsu roared again. "And my crime better be worse than trying to murder the guild masters!" He pointed at them with exaggeration and spat out large trails of fire from his mouth. Naruto covered his face with his hands and groaned. This was embarrassing.

The man in the chair sighed along with Erza. "Just, take them to jail."

"ERZA, DONT APOLOGIZE TO THESE GUYS!" He caught himself in a stutter, "Er, I mean, I'M NARUTO!"

_'Ok, I'm done.'_

There was the loud sound of a wall breaking. To Natsu it only felt like it was only a second before he found himself on the opposite side of the wall with another gaping hole in the building. Naruto stood only one foot away from the old place where he stood with his fist extended and eyebrow twitching. It felt good to do that.

If it wasn't bad now, then she didn't know what was. She could swear that Org was about to burst some steam and start scolding him, but he didn't. She witnessed Natsu with smirked eyes as he was picked up off the ground with a trail of drool coming from his mouth. Naruto might have over done it since as she could see, a large lump over his head. As they started taking her to the cell, they were about to be grab Naruto before the shadowed man above stopped them with a raise of his hand.

"Leave him." said the shadowed man. "We need to speak to him."

The amphibian bowed and backed away. Erza looked at Naruto with a worried face. What was going to happen? Why did they call him anyways? But before she could do anything, he looked at her with a smile. "I'll be alright. Just wait for me at the guild when I am done." were the words he mouthed. Even before she could reply, the doors closed on her, blocking her view from the blond man and council.

**~0~**

**\- In the Jail Cell-**

"I don't even know what to say to you." Erza said this with a glare, one that he returned. "This is just a formality!"

His glare vanished as it turned into a face of curiosity. "A formality?"

"They arrested me just for show." said Erza. "It's to preserve the order of the magic world. The council must make a show of enforcing law among wizards." _'Even though I wish they didn't but, it's necessary.'_

He stood up and looked at her. This didn't make sense! "What? I don't get it at all!"

This time she stood up. The same look was still on her face when she met face to face with him again. "It means that they'll find me guilty but there will be no punishment!" she said a little more as a yell, "I'd probably have been back today." Natsu felt small under her intensified glare. Oh how she scared him. "If you hadn't gone nuts, that is!"

What?! No! DAMN IT!

His head hung low in shame. Well, this was embarrassing. If he knew that he wouldn't have come here... maybe.

She turned her head away. She couldn't help but smile. "But... I'm glad you came." Natsu was sweet that way. He didn't abandon his friends or family no matter what happened. Even if he was a knucklehead like that, he still was a nice person that many people admire about his personality.

"Well, at least there was nothing bad that happened other than us being thrown into jail. Now we need to wait for a day and we'll be free."

If only he was more calmer like this than he would in the next.

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

**\- One Day Later, Location: Fairy Tail Guild Hall -**

"Ah, the sweet smell of FREEDOM!"

He's been acting like this for the whole time he was here. Jet was more than annoyed. There was probably no more to say than that. Yeah, he's free from being jailed for half a day. But seriously, he's been screaming for almost 10 minutes already. "Shut up will you?"

"FREEDOM!"

"Pipe down!" Man, sometimes he can get annoying!

Mira had a hand on her cheek with her always so enchanting smile. "This is what makes him so lovable."

While they were all like this, Lucy was face first on a table. She couldn't believe it. "It was all for show, and I was so worried..."

"I get it!" It all made sense to him now! "She's a scapegoat but not a sacrificial lamb!"

Elfman paled when he heard that. Sacraficial lamb? "You're an ice wizard alright. That joke gave me chills..." At least he hoped it was a joke... "So, what about your man-to-man battle with Erza, Natsu?"

When he heard that, Natsu froze. "Oh yeah, I forgot!" He turned to Erza with a grin, "Erza! Let's continue where we left off!"

She didn't want to deal with this right now. She only wanted to relax right now. After all she's been through, "No. I'm tired." But of course, he didn't listen. Typical answer from this mage here. His hands engulfed itself with flames as usual and he leapt at her with a battle cry.

"What am I going to do with you." she muttered. Quickly, she stood from her chair and sidestepped. Bringing her arm back, she struck him in the chest with one, swift strike and his face was priceless and multiple things happened. The fire around his fist extinguished itself with a hiss and fell to the ground with a thud, twitching.

Now for everyone watching, including Lucy, Gray, and Elfman, they were shocked. Not just shocked, but scared. From their previous fight, it looked like they were evenly matched but instead, here she goes with one punch to the stomach and he is knocked out. Sure he was powerful, probably dangerous to most people out in the world, but to beat him in one strike was just amazing! The only person Lucy saw do that to him was Naruto and the master but that was it!

She only put a hand on her hip and smirked. "Are you satisfied?"

"It's over!"

Gray and Elfman start to crack up. Such a fail for Natsu. "That was lame, Natsu!"

"Erza's strong, that's for sure!" Elfman said, though you could hear more laughing than him talking. Lucy only looked at Natsu amused. For someone like that to be put out in such a way was funny.

They continued to laugh for a while until something caught Mira's attention. The master seemed to be struggling against something. His eye lids were struggling to stay open. "Master, is there something wrong?" He started grumbling but she heard it.

"..m... sl..p..."

He rose his head a little higher but his eyes still showed that he was tired.

"...It's him..."

Her eyes started drooping down seconds later until they closed. She fell to the ground, losing what she had in her hand which was a glass mug. Every other mage started to feel it as they clutched their heads, trying to stay awake. Even Erza couldn't resist it. A couple fell of their seats and collapsed to the ground while others' heads fell onto the tables they were on. It was only the master who was still awake and heard the sound of footsteps but besides that, there was nothing else going on besides the sound of snoring by the knocked out mages.

"Mystogan." he started out. The cloaked man walked over to the stairs to the higher floor and ripped off a sheet of paper with the picture of what it seemed to be a monster. Walking down the stairs, he stopped in front of the master and held the paper out for him.

"I'm off." was all he said.

"Hey! Aren't you going to undo the sleeping magic?" He remembered this because last time, he just left them alone.

He did not answer and instead turned around to the doors of the guild. He started walking down the hall past the master and started counting down.

"Go (Five)."

"Yon (Four)."

"San (Three)."

"Ni (Two)."

"Ichi (One)."

Right as the doors slammed closed, everyone's eyes shot open, except for Natsu who somehow still was asleep through his own will. People started to rub their eyes from their sudden sleep they had experienced and started to mumble to themselves.

"That felt like... was Mystogan here?" Jet asked.

Droy grit his teeth. So annoying that guy when he did that. "That bastard." he said out of frustration.

Levi rubbed her eyes and swept away some of her hair away from her face. "He uses such powerful magic."

Lucy was in the dark, or maybe that was just her still half asleep. But what was his name again? "Mystogan." she half asked and said.

Elfman spoke first. He felt fine after a while. He was a man! He didn't need to stay drowsy for long! "One of the strongest men in Fairy Tail." he replied.

He hated that. Everytime he did that it would always make his head hurt. Just when would he stop doing that? But either way, he still replied with a slight annoyed voice. "He does this because he doesn't like other people to see his face. When he comes to take a job, he always puts everyone to sleep like this."

"But what's with that? That's too suspicious." It was true. If he keeps on hiding his face like that, then how do they know that he's a good guy? He could be someone bad for all they know.

In response, Gray's eyes shot to the master. The small man had his arms and legs crossed over each other while his eyes were closed, seeming to be thinking about something. "As far as I know, no one other than the master has seen what he looks like."

"No. I know what he looks like."

This voice came from the upper floor, someone who they never heard in a long time aside from Lucy. When they looked up at the person who spoke, they were shocked to see who was there. He had a smug grin on his face already giving a bad first impression showing that he seemed to be someone to think that he was of a higher level than them. He was rather tall even from the distance and had blond hair with a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt that ran down his right eye. He wore an orange tunic that was decorated with spots reminiscent of a leopard's on the shoulders and sides, and fur around the edges. He wore headphones around his neck but had spikes coming out from the middle of each side. From this, Lucy could already tell one thing:

This guy was gonna be one annoying person.

"Laxus, you were here?"

People started crowing nearby the middle to get a view of this man. Lucy heard that

"Mystogan's shy. Keep your noses out of it."

At this point, Natsu woke up somehow by hearing his voice while asleep. He looked at the scarred man with a determined look. "Laxus! Fight me!"

Gray deadpanned. "You were just beat up by Erza a second ago."

"That's right!" Laxus had a smug grin plastered on his face. He knew he was mocking him already from the way he was talking. "If you can't even beat Erza, then how can you beat me?"

Erza stepped forward with a glare. Was he mocking her now as well? "What are you implying!" she demanded of him. Gray shrinked back fearfully from her gaze. There goes once again a reason why she scared him.

Laxus extended his arms out into the air. He still had his same smug look, much to Natsu's annoyance. He always acted like this and it made him want to punch him even more but Laxus wasn't done. "That I am the strongest." he answered.

"Laxus, you can't call yourself the strongest if you haven't even beaten me so don't even make that up."

He looked over to the doors as did everyone else. There stood the blond Uzumaki with narrowed eyes. Laxus growled seeing him. Just what he needed. "What are _you, _doing here."

He started walking up the isle while everyone stared between the two.

"It's Naruto." almost everyone mumbled. This was going to be a problem.

For Erza, even though she was relieved seeing Naruto as he finally got back from whatever he had to do with the council, this was a bad time for him to come back. They haven't gotten along for years until Laxus changed, Those two donn't really like each other very well.

Naruto crossed his arms, "The council called me over to meet with them to speak with them for something important. Waste of time if you asked me. Now stop acting like that arrogant idiot like you've always been. Guess it's a normal occurrence for you if you do that."

He narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. "What did you say?"

"There will always be people who are stronger than you Laxus as there are people stronger than me. If you're the strongest, then you surely can beat me since I'm proof of saying that you lie. I've beaten you before Laxus as I have done before. So you better pick up your act or that attitude of yours will be your downfall."

Natsu finally lost it as he looked up at the man on the balcony. "Come on Laxus! Me and you, right now!"

He started to run down the middle of the room with one fist blazing. Leaping into the air, he met the ground from the oversized fist, courtesy of the master.

Lucy's face blanched when he broke the floor...literally. What was that about?

"You cannot go upstairs yet! Not yet."

Even after those words, the two blonds continued to stare at each other. Laxus ignored the others. All he was focusing on was the other man in the center. He hated the look on his face. The calm. As he said before, Laxus always acted all tall and mighty yet he doesn't prove his words. For as long as he knew him Laxus has done this for years. He probably had done it a bit longer than that as well since he met him about one year after he joined.

OH! So the guy's ignoring him now! "When I get my hands on you you're gonna wish that you never met me!" Natsu roared. If he wasn't pinned down by the Master then imagine if we wasn't.

This was getting bad. For Laxus to start trouble like this will definitely cause problems as well as him seeing Naruto come along. He knew the younger blond could handle himself seeing that he was one of the strongest members in Fairy Tail and no doubt Laxus was too. But Naruto could actually control his emotions quite well while Laxus could not. For all he knew, his grandson might start a fight right now with Naruto. Even if Laxus may lose, he would cause a lot of destruction since he also has powerful magic.

"Laxus, that's enough! Leave now before anymore trouble is caused."

The grandson of the Master of course did not listen. An arrogant smirk formed before he started talking once more.

"I'm not giving up my seat as the strongest in Fairy Tail for anyone! Not to Erza, not Mystogan, not even you Naruto!" His pride was refilled as he grinned arrogantly.

"I'm the strongest and soon, Uzumaki, you will be down on your knees before me!"

With the flip of his cape, he turned around and walked to the other side of the upper floor.

* * *

**Naruto, Fairy Tail's Maelstrom**

* * *

Naruto stood in the place as he did before. Everyone was actually a bit quiet besides the sound of Natsu still trying to get out of the Master's grasp. "...I don't know whether I should laugh at his stupidity or to go up there and knock some nails into his head." he muttered.

**"I would suggest you did both. The nails when you beat him, and the laughing at seeing what he would look like in the aftermath."**

_'...That's actually a pretty good idea. I'm actually surprised though. Didn't you say on the way here you were gonna take a nap?'_

The bijū growled. He just had to bring that up, didn't he. **"Tch. It was thanks to your friend there that woke me up but if you do what I suggested, that would make my day."**

He deadpanned._ 'I'm not gonna do that Kurama. Last time I listened to you, Natsu broke some bones. He even forgot about what happened. And the excuse I said was the most embarrassing and made me look like an idiot. Who says "He fell down some stairs." for an accident report? And everyone believed me!'_

**"That was a long time ago."**

_'It was only a couple months ago!'_

**~0~**

He Lucy looked at Naruto strangely. His facial expressions kept on changing every couple seconds. Even if they knew him for a long time it was still strange seeing him do that every so often. Turning, she got up from where she sat and walked over to where Mira and the Master were and sat down. "Um...Mira-san?"

Hearing her name called, she turned to the now sitting Lucy. With a smile, she spoke. "Oh, hello Lucy. What can I do for you?"

With her head facing Naruto once more, she sweat dropped at his next expression. He had his head down low and from what she could see, there was a depressive gaze around his face like he was told something that brought him down. "Is it normal for Naruto to do that? I mean, everyone seems to be ignoring it like it's nothing."

Mira looked over to the blond who still had that same depressing look. "Oh that? Yeah, it's normal for him. Well at first it wasn't, but everyone got used to it after a couple of years."

Lucy laughed sheepishly, her sweat drop still formed on the back of her head. "You don't say..."

**~0~**

**"Look, all I said that the answer is simple. Go up and beat him up."**

_'You would just take over my body like you did last time and throw him against the wall. He should've noticed the personality change too. That still surprised me even today.'_

**"..."**

_'...Kurama? You there?'_

After a moment of silence, he could hear the sound of snoring in his mind. His eyebrow twitched. _'He just fell asleep on me! What the heck Kurama?!'_

Before he could mentally shout at him, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned. He smiled when he saw his friend behind him. "Oh, hey Erza. What's up?"

She sweat dropped. _'Yup_. _Same old Naruto, forgetting what happened before and immediately changing back to himself.'_ She put a hand on her hip and smiled. "Nothing much, but I actually wanted to ask you something."

He rose a brow, '_She wants to ask me something?' _"Ok, what do you need?" She rose her arm to show what she hand and he took it. It took only a second before he realized what she had and started reading over the contents. "A mission?"

"Remember how we used to do missions together as kids?"

Blinking, Naruto stopped reading and looked up at her. "Uh, yeah I remember that. What of it?"

He handed the paper back to her. It started to glow with a golden light and vanished. **Re-quip **Magic. With smile, she started to talk. "Well, I thought since it's been a while since we've been on a mission together aside from the incident with Eisenwald. So I figured that we should try it again since you usually do missions solo most of the time or when I'm here in the guild, you're on a mission of high class."

Well that did make sense. He would usually do stuff like that almost all the time, going solo he meant. They started going on missions with each other probably about a week after he talked with her by the river. Then when he turned 16, he started going on missions to control Kurama's chakra and also to train. So for then, he said that he started going solo since he didn't want to tell anyone about his secret. The only people who really knows about his past at the moment is Makarov and the Council.

"You know, you're right. We really haven't been a mission together for a while." Now for some odd reason, he felt like someone was watching them. He turned his head towards the bar where Mira and Lucy were and eeped before turning away as if nothing happened. Seriously, why have they been watching him a lot lately!

In confusion, Erza looked at Naruto with a raised brow. "Naruto? Is there something wrong?"

He looked back at her and gave a sheepish chuckle and scratched behind his head. "Hehe, sorry about that Erza, just got distracted for a second there. And yeah, I'll go. We haven't really talked about anything previous besides missions. So maybe on our way we can talk what we've been doing."

"Alright, that sounds nice. It's getting a bit late so I guess I'll take my leave now. Meet at the front of the guild doors at noon?"

"I'm good with that. I'll see ya then." With that she left the guild. Before he could turn, everyones eyes were on him as if he was some interesting thing they would wish to see.

"WHY IS EVERYONE STARING AT ME LIKE THAT?!"

The sound of his voice echoed through the area with an echo. Everyone knew from this point on, things were gonna get interesting around Fairy Tail.

_**(Chapter End)**_

* * *

**(A/N: HAHA! I'm done! Sorry for the extra long wait, I've been working on another story that will soon be published maybe within this month. I'm still working on the story line but I should have focused more on this story a bit more. Sorry 'bout that.**

**I'm also gonna be on vacation for a couple of weeks but I'll be able to write on the story, just not as much so don't think I'm gonna abandon the story, cause I'm NOT!**

**But I guess that's all for now guys. Any questions on the story so far, just PM me and no, I'm not going to tell you the future chapters. Well, maybe the important parts I won't but the small parts I think will be fine. **

**Well, I'll see you guys later! Remembers, R&amp;R!**

**~LGM)**


End file.
